FRJ-2 (MERLIN), the swimming pool reactor cooled and moderated by light water, was built at the then Juelich Nuclear Research Establishment (KFA) between 1958 and 1962. In the period between 1964 and 1985, it was used for. The reactor was decommissioned in 1985. Since 1996, most of the demolition work has been carried out under the leadership of a project team. The complete secondary cooling system was removed by late 1998. After the cooling loops and experimental installations had been taken out, the reactor vessel internals were removed in 2000 after the water had been drained from the reactor vessel. After the competent authority had granted a license, demolition of the reactor block, the central part of the research reactor, was begun in October 2001. In a first step, the reactor operating floor and the reactor attachment structures were removed by the GNS/SNT consortium charged with overall planning and execution of the job. This phase gave rise to approx. The reactor block proper is dismantled in a number of steps. A variety of proven cutting techniques are used for this purpose. Demolition of the reactor block is to be completed in the first half of 2003. (orig.) [German] Der mit Leichtwasser gekuehlte und moderierte Schwimmbad-Forschungsreaktor FRJ-2 (MERLIN) wurde von 1958 bis 1962 fuer die damalige Kernforschungsanlage Juelich (KFA) errichtet. Von 1964 bis 1985 wurde er fuer Experimente mit zunaechst 5 MW und spaeter 10 MW thermischer Leistung bei einem maximalen thermischen Neutronenfluss von 1,1.10{sup 14} n/cm{sup 2}s genutzt. Im Jahr 1985 stellte der Reaktor seinen Betrieb ein. Die Brennelemente wurden aus der Anlage entfernt und in die USA und nach Grossbritannien verbracht. Seit 1996 erfolgen die wesentlichen Abbautaetigkeiten unter Leitung eines verantwortlichen Projektteams. Bis Ende 1998 wurde das komplette Sekundaerkuehlsystem entfernt. Dem Abbau der Kuehlkreislaeufe und Experimentiereinrichtungen folgte im Jahr 2000 der Ausbau der

A novel experimental approach has been developed that permits to measure in the laboratory the atmospheric decay of low volatile, particle-bound compounds (pesticides, persistent organic pollutants (POP)) which react efficiently with OH-radicals in the atmosphere. The experimental approach makes use of trapped micro- and nanoparticles which are coated by monolayers of the low volatile compounds. Trapping is accomplished by storing the particles in an electrodynamic trap, which is surrounded by a controlled atmosphere. The temperature, pressure, humidity, and the chemical composition of the atmosphere can be adjusted to the atmospheric environment of interest. The particles can be exposed to reactive trace gases, such as OH radicals or ozone. The chemically induced changes of the adsorbates are time-resolved monitored by Raman spectroscopy. As a result, chemical processes, reaction products, as well as evaporation from the particle surface can be investigated. Alternatively, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy can be used for the detection of such time resolved processes. The experiments allow us to derive kinetic data of particle-bound low volatile compounds. We have constructed and characterized all devices and components that are required for this novel experimental approach. This included a suitable particle trap, sources of OH radicals, and the efficient detection of time-resolved Raman spectra of stored particles. The components were commissioned by using simple, but realistic test systems. Raman spectra of particle-bound pesticides were measured and first kinetic experiments were performed. The setup is now ready to use for systems of environmental interest. (orig.) [German] Es wurde ein neues experimentelles Verfahren zur quantitativen Bestimmung des Abbaus von partikelgebundenen gering volatilen Substanzen (Pflanzenschutzmittel, persistente organische Schadstoffe (POP)) durch OH-Radikale aufgebaut. Der experimentelle Ansatz nutzt beruehrungslos

The reports on exciting good results on degradation of xenobiotic substances by Phanaerochaete chrysosporium obtained in the early eighties in liquid cultures were confirmed for a wide spectrum of white-rot fungi under soil conditions. The substance classes which were successfully degraded were: PAH, PCB and TNT. The results obtained in the laboratory could in the case of PAH be transfered to a larger scale. The addition of known inducers of lignolytic enzymes did not increase the rate of degradation of xenobiotics of the white-rot fungi. The most critical parameter is the oxygen supply. For improving the economics of the process, cheap methods of growing the fungi were developed, such as the treatment of the substrate with detergents or the supplementing with potato pulp. These treatments have the advantage that they do not require expensive thermal activation of the substrate. Both processes provide excellent growth of the fungi without additional treatments. The at present best process for bioremediation of soils with white-rot fungi includes the following steps: liquification of the soil to a slurry, addition of the fungi together with possibly other substances e.g. tensides, solidification of the slurry by the addition of a lignocellulosic substrate which converts the slurry to a crumbly solid which can be well areated. The mass is then transferred to a closed container and incubated under controlled aeration. The problems being unsolved are: upscaling to the cubic meter scale, the lack of bioavailability of the xenobiotics in many soils, the lack of information about the degradation products and the most suitable way of determining the residual toxicity of the treated soils. (orig.)

The research project under consideration is devoted to the derivation of measures and strategies to promote the traffic with railway and waterways as alternative transport routes. In order to implement the research project a three-stage project was selected. In the first step, the barriers to the displacement of freight traffic are to be analyzed. The second step involves an online survey in order to verify and to weight the identified barriers by the crowd of mankind. In the third step, the reasons of the barriers have been defined. Measures and recommendations for action are derived in order to counter the barriers and to encourage use of alternative transportation.

Richard von Volkmann (1830–1889), one of the most important surgeons of the 19th century, is regarded as one of the fathers of orthopaedic surgery. He was a contemporary of Langenbeck, Esmarch, Lister, Billroth, Kocher, and Trendelenburg. He was head of the Department of Surgery at the University of Halle, Germany (1867–1889). His popularity attracted doctors and patients from all over the world. He was the lead physician for the German military during two wars. From this experience, he compared the mortality of civilian and war injuries and investigated the general poor hygienic conditions in civilian hospitals. This led him to introduce the “antiseptic technique” to Germany that was developed by Lister. His powers of observation and creativity led him to findings and achievements that to this day bear his name: Volkmann’s contracture and the Hueter-Volkmann law. Additionally, he was a gifted writer; he published not only scientific literature but also books of children’s fairy tales and poems under the pen name of Richard Leander, assuring him a permanent place in the world of literature as well as orthopaedics. PMID:18196438

John von Neuman was perhaps the most influential mathematician of the twentieth century, especially if his broad influence outside mathematics is included. Not only did he contribute to almost all branches of mathematics and created new fields, but he also changed post-World War II history with his work on the design of computers and with being a sought-after technical advisor to many figures in the U.S. military-political establishment in the 1940s and 1950s. The present volume is the first substantial collection of (previously mainly unpublished) letters written by von Neumann to colleagues, friends, government officials, and others. The letters give us a glimpse of the thinking of John von Neumann about mathematics, physics, computer science, science management, education, consulting, politics, and war. Readers of quite diverse backgrounds will find much of interest in this fascinating first-hand look at one of the towering figures of twentieth century science.

disentangled) as seen by moving observers, is used to investigate the properties of von Neumann entropy, as a measure of spin–momentum entanglement. To do so, we partition the total Hilbert space into momentum and spin subspaces so that the ...

Endolymphatic sac tumours (ELSTs) of the inner ear occur in 16% of patients with the hereditary tumor syndrome von Hippel-Lindau disease (vHL). ELSTs of all sizes can cause irreversible hearing loss which can, however, be prevented through early diagnosis and treatment. We aim to emphasize the ch...

Full Text Available The concept of shock apparently emerged in the middle of the 18th century (Whyett as an occurrence observed experimentally after spinal cord transection, and identified as "shock" phenomenon one century later (Hall. The concept was extended (Brown-Séquard and it was suggested that brain lesions caused functional rupture in regions distant from the injured one ("action à distance". The term "diaschisis" (von Monakow, proposed as a new modality of shock, had its concept broadened, underpinned by observations of patients, aiming at distinguishing between symptoms of focal brain lesions and transitory effects they produced, attributable to depression of distant parts of the brain connected to the injured area. Presently, diaschisis is related mainly to cerebrovascular lesions and classified according to the connection fibers involved, as proposed by von Monakow. Depression of metabolism and blood flow in regions anatomically separated, but related by connections with the lesion, allows observing diaschisis with neuroimaging.

Full Text Available Von Hippel–Lindau (VHL disease is a rare autosomal dominantly inherited multisystem disorder characterised by the development of a variety of benign and malignant tumours. We report a case of VHL disease that was inherited by a daughter from her father, who both presented at a young age with progressive headache and were found to have a posterior fossa haemangioblastoma (HB on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI. Multiple benign pancreatic and renal cysts were also noted in both patients.

Dr. von Braun began his association with Walt Disney in the 1950s when the rocket scientist appeared in three Disney television productions related to the exploration of space. Years later, Dr. von Braun invited Disney and his associates to tour the Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) in Huntsville, Alabama. This photograph is dated April 13, 1965. From left are R.J. Schwinghamer from the MSFC, Disney, B.J. Bernight, and Dr. von Braun.

Background and Aims: Von Willebrand disease (VWD) is caused by reduced levels of or dysfunctional von Willebrand factor (VWF) and is characterized by a bleeding tendency. It is well known that individuals with high VWF levels have a higher risk for arterial thrombosis. Although it has never been

This paper is a result of reflection on the interrelation design-research-cultivation, and on the interpretation of Von Humboldt's maxim: 'Einheit von Forschung und Lehre', which governed the academic world in the past two centuries. It is argued that 'Forschung' should be interpreted as 'Research

Full Text Available Abstract A germline mutation in the Von-Hippel Lindau (VHL gene predisposes carriers to development of abundantly vascularised tumours in the retina, cerebellum, spine, kidney, adrenal gland and pancreas. Most VHL patients die from the consequences of cerebellar haemangioblastoma or renal cell carcinoma. The VHL gene is a tumour suppressor gene and is involved in angiogenesis by regulation of the activity of hypoxia-inducible factor 1-α (HIF1-α. Clinical diagnosis of VHL can be confirmed by molecular genetic analysis of the VHL gene, which is informative in virtually all VHL families. A patient with (suspicion for VHL is an indication for genetic counselling and periodical examination.

The aim of the research project was first to select a fungus with a high potential for mineralization of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) and a good ability to colonize different soils. The application of this fungus for a degradation of PAH in soil had to be tested. In a screening of 57 white rot fungi the fungus Pleurotus sp. Florida fulfilled these requirements best. In pure culture it was able to metabolize and mineralize highly condensed 4-6 ring PAH to a great extent. For instance, up to 50% of {sup 14}C-pyrene or 39% of {sup 14}C-benzo(a)pyrene was mineralized to {sup 14}CO{sub 2} within 15 weeks. If different carriers for {sup 14}C-pyrene were used the mineralization correlated with the bioavailability, which was characterized by the desorption of the compound from the carriers with water. The mineralization of {sup 14}C-pyrene, {sup 14}C-benz(a)anthracene; {sup 14}C-benzo(a)-pyrene and {sup 14}C-dibenz(a, h)anthracene in native soils showed that a colonization with Pl. sp Florida inhibited the degradation of the less recalcitrant {sup 14}C-pyrene by the indigenous soil microflora. However, the mineralization of the carcinogenic, very recalcitrant and high condensed {sup 14}C-PAH was considerably supported by the fungus. Therefore this capabilities of the fungus could not be proven in a joint medium-scale soil experiment (0.8 m{sup 3} soil) which had been conducted within a parmership with scientists in Jena and an industriell firm. Because of safety aspects only the low condensed less recalcitrant PAH could be applied in this experiment. (orig./MG) [Deutsch] Ziel der Untersuchungen war es, zunaechst aus einer groesseren Zahl von Weissfaeulepilzen Pilze zu selektieren, die ein hohes Abbaupotential fuer PAK besitzen. Fuer die effektive Bildung der fuer den Xenobiotika-Abbau wahrscheinlich verantwortlichen lignolytischen Enzyme sollten die Pilze auf Stroh mit einer Kontamination von {sup 14}C-Pyren angezogen werden. An Hand der Freisetzung von {sup 14

The von Meyenburg complex (VMC) describes bile duct hamartomas and presents a rare, benign incidental finding in liver imaging. We report on a 61-year-old man, who was referred for a follow up study 14 years after remission of Hodgkin's disease. Computed tomography (CT) revealed multiple hypodense lesions throughout the liver, primary suggesting recurrent Hodgkin's disease. Previous CT-examinations, which were obtained at a later date, showed those lesions in identical distribution and morphology over the years, leading to diagnosis of multiple bile duct hamartomas (VMC). Making imaging-based diagnosis of VMC including ultrasound, CT and magnetic resonance imaging is a challenging task for the radiologist. Based on literature research findings, the impact of different modalities in the diagnostic work-up of VMC is discussed. (orig.)

Full Text Available 3D Scanners Lab from Digital Humanities Laboratory at the University of Warsaw initiated the scientific project, the purpose of which was to call attention to systematically penetrated and devastated pyramid-shaped tomb from the XVIII/XIX century, of family von Fahrenheid in Rapa in Banie Mazurskie commune (NE Poland. By conducting a series of non-invasive studies, such as 3D inventory using terrestrial laser scanning (TLS, thermal imaging, georadar measurements (around and inside the tomb and anthropological research of mummified remains as well - the complete dataset was collected. Through the integration of terrestrial (TLS and airborne laser scanning (ALS authors managed to analyse the surroundings of Fahrenheid pyriamid and influence of some objects (like trees on the condition and visibility of the Pyramids in the landscape.

...) and the background noise they are embedded in. Processors utilizing those fluctuations such as the von WISPR Family Processors discussed herein, are methods or algorithms that preferentially attenuate the fluctuating signals and noise...

Full Text Available On May 15, 2011 Christian von Ferber - member of the Editorial Board of "Condensed Matter Physics" and renowned expert in the fields of soft matter physics and complex systems - celebrated his 50th birthday. The Editorial board of CMP, colleagues and friends warmy congratulate Christian von Ferber and wish him and his family continuing good health and to enjoy many adventures and discoveries in his future scientific travels!

We prove that it is not possible to classify separable von Neumann factors of types II, II or III, 0 ≤ λ ≤ 1, up to isomorphism by a Borel measurable assignment of "countable structures" as invariants. In particular the isomorphism relation of type II factors is not smooth. We also prove...... that the isomorphism relation for von Neumann II factors is analytic, but is not Borel....

Von Mises formulas for quartet invariants, even is useful in most cases of practical interest, suffer from some systematic errors. A new von Mises formula is suggested with better theoretical features. (orig.)

We announce some new results regarding the classification problem for separable von Neumann algebras. Our results are obtained by applying the notion of Borel reducibility and Hjorth's theory of turbulence to the isomorphism relation for separable von Neumann algebras....

Von Willebrand protein is present in the extracellular matrix of endothelial cells where it codistributes with fibronectin and types IV and V collagen. Bacterial collagenase digestion of endothelial cells removed fibrillar collagen, but the pattern of fibronectin and of von Willebrand protein remained undisturbed. Exogenous von Willebrand protein bound to matrices of different cells, whether rich or poor in collagen. von Willebrand protein also decorated the matrix of cells grown in the prese...

In this note we consider to what extent the functional calculus and the spectral theory in von Neumann algebras are preserved by the taking of quotients relative to two-sided ideals of the von Neumann algebra. Keywords:von Neumann algebra, functional calculus, spectral theory, quotient algebras. Quaestiones ...

Fractal geometry is used in diverse research areas, being an useful tool in describing the mechanical behaviour of natural and man-made structures. In this paper, the structural behaviour of a von Koch cantilever beam is analyzed in the small deformations regime. Analytical recursive formulae for the strain energy scaling are derived, which have been found in good agreement with numerical simulations. Energy considerations suggest a peculiar scaling for the beam rigidity in order to prevent compliance divergence. The results are then extended to evaluate the stiffness matrix of a von Koch beam.

The study examines measures to reduce dioxin formation in thermal waste treatment. The VERONA pilot plant (VErbrennungsanlage mit feststehendem ROst und getrennter NAchbrennkammer - incineration plant with stationary grate and separate post-combustion chamber) was developed to carry out practical experiments. The experiments were conducted using wood and propane as basic combustible materials and with controlled dosage of various bromine-, chlorine- and copper-containing compounds. The behaviour of the following compounds was studied in the combustion chamber, after the post-combustion chamber and after the heat exchanger: PCPh, PBrPh, PCBz, PBrBz, PCDD/F and PBDD/F. Experiments involving the variation of various primary measures (moisture content of combustible material, air supply, temperature in the combustion chamber, quality of post-combustion, quantities and structures of halogen compounds) have shown that the quality of post-combustion plays a much greater role than the other measures. For this reason, a search was launched for indicators which can be measured readily and by means of which the quality of post-combustion in terms of organohalide decomposition can be evaluated, and which correlate closely with the dioxin concentrations after the heat exchanger. It became apparent that the congeners of the chlorophenols and of the chlorobenzenes, measured in various incineration stages, are not suited, nor is the CO content. (orig.)

Persistente and highly toxic sewages with an extremely high content of substances are still a problem in the waste water management. Wet oxidation offers a possibility to reduce the pollutant content in the water. Comparative experiments of the efficiency of oxidation initiated by radicals were carried out, using as heterogeneous catalysis on strap catalyst base as cavitation. By means of the wet oxidation on strap catalyst base with H{sub 2}O{sub 2} as oxidation reagent it was possible, to decontaminate effectively as single pollutants in model sewages as complex substance mixtures in real sewages. The tested catalytic systems worked especially effectively for high pollutant concentrations. At lower concentrations of sewage pollutants the amount of H{sub 2}O{sub 2} must be increased in regard to the actual CSB. In real sewages the pollutant decrease was, related on the TOC, in the cut, at 50%, a raise of the average concentration of the oxidation agent didn't produce any further decrease of the pollutant concentration. Aromatic hydrocarbons could be reduced more effectively than aliphatic ones. The conception for a technical plant was developed including cost estimate. The reduction of pollutants by cavitation was fundamentally lower than by using the heterogeneous catalysis way. Without addition of an oxidation agent (i.e. H{sub 2}O{sub 2}) only a TOC decrease of approx. 15% was registered in real sewages. The pollutant reduction increased at higher pollutant concentration. A complete elimination of all pollutants could not be obtained in none of the examined cases neither at model nor at real sewages. Especially the long reaction times (6 to 24 h) of the cavitation process in comparison with those, necessary for the catalytic reaction (2 to 6 h) are hindering a technical realization of the cavitation process, which seems to be doubtful for this and other reasons. So the use of cavitation in industrial scale sewage cleaning plants under the parameter conditions tested in the project has no chance to be realized as by technically as by economical reasons. (orig.)

A Murray–von Neumann algebra is the algebra of operators affiliated with a finite von Neumann algebra. In this article, we first present a brief introduction to the theory of derivations of operator algebras from both the physical and mathematical points of view. We then describe our recent work on derivations of Murray–von Neumann algebras. We show that the “extended derivations” of a Murray–von Neumann algebra, those that map the associated finite von Neumann algebra into itself, are inner. In particular, we prove that the only derivation that maps a Murray–von Neumann algebra associated with a factor of type II1 into that factor is 0. Those results are extensions of Singer’s seminal result answering a question of Kaplansky, as applied to von Neumann algebras: The algebra may be noncommutative and may even contain unbounded elements. PMID:24469831

A Murray-von Neumann algebra is the algebra of operators affiliated with a finite von Neumann algebra. In this article, we first present a brief introduction to the theory of derivations of operator algebras from both the physical and mathematical points of view. We then describe our recent work on derivations of Murray-von Neumann algebras. We show that the "extended derivations" of a Murray-von Neumann algebra, those that map the associated finite von Neumann algebra into itself, are inner. In particular, we prove that the only derivation that maps a Murray-von Neumann algebra associated with a factor of type II1 into that factor is 0. Those results are extensions of Singer's seminal result answering a question of Kaplansky, as applied to von Neumann algebras: The algebra may be noncommutative and may even contain unbounded elements.

INTRODUCTION In the archives of the Rijksmuseum van Natuurlijke Historie in Leiden there is a map with three letters written by Alexander von Humboldt (17691859) to the first director of the Museum, Coenraad Jacob Temminck (1778-1858). The map, the hard cover of John Gould's "Synopsis of the birds

Full Text Available Natural iterative methods converge to the exact solution of a differential-functional von Foerster-type equation which describes a single population dependent on its past time and state densities as well as on its total size. On the lateral boundary we impose a renewal condition.

The history of the, organized by Hans von Engel, International Conference on Phenomena in Ionized Gases is presented: Oxford (1953), Delft (1955), Venice (1957), Uppsala (1959), Munich (1961), Oxford (1971) and Berlin (1977). Some organizational aspects, financial support and remarkable events like international prizes in field of plasma physics are given

The works of Guido von Pirquet, Austrian pioneer of rocketry, were assessed. Major emphasis was given to Pirquet's calculation of the route to Venus which in fact was followed by the first Russian rocket to Venus. Of interest also is Pirquet's valuable construction of a space station and his analysis of interstellar space flight.

Platelets and von Willebrand factor (VWF) are unable to interact in circulation. To induce an interaction, a conversion of VWF to a platelet-binding conformation is required. At higher shear stresses, the first step in thrombus formation is binding of VWF to the subendothelium. This results in

Full Text Available Quantitative and/or qualitative deficiency of von Willebrand factor (vWF is associated with the most common inherited bleeding disease von Willebrand disease (vWD. vWD is a complex disease with clinical and genetic heterogeneity. Incomplete penetrance and variable expression due to genetic and environmental factors contribute to its complexity. vWD also has a complex molecular pathogenesis. Some vWF gene mutations are associated with the affected vWF biosynthesis and multimerization, whereas others are associated with increased clearance and functional impairment. Moreover, in addition to a particular mutation, type O blood may result in the more severe phenotype. The present review aimed to provide a summary of the current literature on the molecular genetics of vWD.

Quantitative and/or qualitative deficiency of von Willebrand factor (vWF) is associated with the most common inherited bleeding disease von Willebrand disease (vWD). vWD is a complex disease with clinical and genetic heterogeneity. Incomplete penetrance and variable expression due to genetic and environmental factors contribute to its complexity. vWD also has a complex molecular pathogenesis. Some vWF gene mutations are associated with the affected vWF biosynthesis and multimerization, whereas others are associated with increased clearance and functional impairment. Moreover, in addition to a particular mutation, type O blood may result in the more severe phenotype. The present review aimed to provide a summary of the current literature on the molecular genetics of vWD. None declared.

An orthonormal basis of modified coherent states is constructed. Each member of the basis is an infinite sum of coherent states on a von Neumann lattice. A single state is assigned to each unit cell of area h (Planck constant) in the phase plane. The uncertainties of the coordinate x and the square of the momentum p 2 for these states are shown to be similar to those for the usual coherent states. Expansions in the newly established set are discussed and it is shown that any function in the kq-representation can be written as a sum of two fixed kq-functions. Approximate commuting operators for x and p 2 are defined on a lattice in phase plane according to von Neumann's prescription. (leeter to the editor)

Freiherr Christian Johann Dietrich Theodor von Grotthuss (1785-1822) lived and worked in Lithuania. Inspired by Volta's pile he proposed the first theory of water electrolysis, which was published in 1805 in Rome. Michael Faraday acknowledged T. Grotthuss for this theory in his further investigations of electrolysis processes. Having studied in Germany and France Grotthuss brought science to province by establishing his laboratory in Gedučiai village in his mother's real estate. Lithuanian scientists are proud that life of Theodor von Grotthuss was related to this country. Many events to remember this prominent scientist are organised in Vilnius and other places. His works and example provided a good basis for further development of electrochemical science in Lithuania. Grotthuss insights into the mechanism of proton transport still are of great relevance to such areas of modern science as membrane biochemistry, energy conversion and storage.

Sometimes we fail to notice distinctive or unusual items (inattentional blindness), while other times we remember distinctive items more than expected items (the von Restorff effect). A three-factor framework is presented and tested in two experiments in an attempt to reconcile these seemingly contradictory phenomena. Memory for different types of unexpected stimuli was tested after an easy or difficult Stroop color-naming task. Highly arousing taboo words were well remembered even when the difficult Stroop task limited attentional resources. However, a conceptual isolation effect was only observed when the nature of the category change was highlighted by the Stroop task, the Stroop task was easy, and/or the isolated targets enjoyed a retrieval advantage relative to comparison targets. As proposed in the three-factor framework, the arousing qualities of the stimuli, the attentional demands of the primary task, and the relevance of isolated features at encoding and retrieval combine to produce inattentional blindness and the von Restorff effect.

The authors will classify Rohlin flows on von Neumann algebras up to strong cocycle conjugacy. This result provides alternative approaches to some preceding results such as Kawahigashi's classification of flows on the injective type II_1 factor, the classification of injective type III factors due to Connes, Krieger and Haagerup and the non-fullness of type III_0 factors. Several concrete examples are also studied.

Marshall Center Director Dr. Wernher Von Braun is pictured with Walt Disney during a visit to the Marshall Space Flight Center in 1954. In the 1950s, Dr. Von Braun while working in California on the Saturn project, also worked with Disney studios as a technical director in making three films about Space Exploration for television. Disney's tour of Marshall in 1965 was Von Braun's hope for a renewed public interest in the future of the Space Program at NASA.

We relate Morita equivalence for von Neumann algebras to the ''Connes fusion'' tensor product between correspondences. In the purely algebraic setting, it is well known that rings are Morita equivalent if they are equivalent objects in a bicategory whose 1-cells are bimodules. We present a similar result for von Neumann algebras. We show that von Neumann algebras form a bicategory, having Connes's correspondences as 1-morphisms, and (bounded) intertwiners as 2-morphisms. Further, we prove that two von Neumann algebras are Morita equivalent iff they are equivalent objects in the bicategory. The proofs make extensive use of the Tomita-Takesaki modular theory

Let M be a von Neumann algebra of type II1 which is also a complemented subspace of B( H). We establish an algebraic criterion, which ensures that M is an injective von Neumann algebra. As a corollary we show that if M is a complemented factor of type II1 on a Hilbert space H, then M is injective...

The diffusive coarsening of 2D soap froths is governed by von Neumann's law. A statistical version of this law for dry 3D foams has long been conjectured. A new derivation, based on a theorem by Minkowski, yields an explicit analytical von Neumann's law in 3D which is in very good agreement with

Von Recklinghausen's disease belongs to a group of neurocutaneous syndromes and is characterised by skin, nerve and bone abnormalities. We present a case of von Recklinghausen's disease and precocious puberty in 7-year-old boy. At the age of three café au lait spots on the skin and an incranial tumour situated near the optic chiasm--qualified as inoperable--were discovered. At the age of 7 first signs of precocious puberty appeared (pubic hair P3 and enlargement of the testes (15 ml) and penis). Laboratory measurements included: LH 7.5 mIU/ml, FSH 1.1 mIU/ml, testosterone 183 ng/ml, assessment of bone age: 9 years. The response to LHRH stimulation was characteristic for true precocious puberty (LH 15.9 mIU/ml and FSH 1.5 mIU/ml after 30 minutes). The MRI of the brain showed a tumour of the suprasellar region with compression of pituitary stalk. True precocious puberty was diagnosed. Treatment with Diphereline was introduced. At present the boy is 9 years old and has been treated with Diphereline for 16 months. The volume of the testicles has decreased to 7 ml and loss of pubic hair was noted. The MRI does not show any progression in tumour growth. The authors would like to underline the need of close observation of children with von Reclinghausen disease with regard to possibility of uncovering true precocious puberty which is critical for rapid diagnosis and introduction of correct treatment.

Full Text Available Article in English.The author's recently published monograph on Alexander von Humboldt describes the multiple images of this great cultural icon. The book is a metabiographical study that shows how from the middle of the nineteenth century to the present day Humboldt has served as a nucleus of crystallisation for a variety of successive socio-political ideologies, each producing its own distinctive representation of him. The historiographical implications of this biographical diversity are profound and support current attempts to understand historical scholarship in terms of memory cultures.

Guy von Dardel, a well-known figure at CERN and in the international particle physics community, passed away on 28 August. Guy von Dardel came to CERN when it was founded in 1954 and was a full-time staff member until 1964, performing several experiments and working on technical developments. These included the first measurement of the neutral pion’s life-time. Called to Lund University in 1964, he became professor there in 1965 and director of the 1.2 GeV electron accelerator. In the late 1960s, he performed an experiment at CERN’s PS that measured the decays of the Λ. Then, in the early 1970s, he involved the Lund group in a series of experiments at the Intersecting Storage Rings (ISR), where he measured the production of various types of particles. In particular, he participated in a series of experiments that observed the production of a high abundance of particles with large transverse momenta. This required an explanation...

Following the recognition of von Willebrand disease (VWD) in 1926 and the cloning of the gene for von Willebrand factor (VWF) in 1985, significant advances have been made in our fundamental knowledge of both the disease and the protein. Some of this new knowledge has also begun to impact the clinical management of VWD. First, the progressive increase in our understanding of the molecular genetic basis of VWD has resulted in rational applications of molecular testing to complement the current range of phenotypic tests for VWD. These molecular genetic strategies are most effectively directed at the prenatal diagnosis of type 3 VWD and confirmatory testing for types 2B and 2N disease. In contrast, the use of molecular testing to clarify the diagnosis of type 1 VWD is of marginal benefit, at best. In terms of VWD therapies, a new recombinant VWF concentrate has recently completed successful clinical trials and is now awaiting more widespread application. There have even been some pre-clinical successes with VWF gene transfer although the clinical rationale for this therapeutic strategy needs careful consideration. Much more remains to be learnt about the biology of VWF and further translational advances for the enhancement of VWD care will inevitably be realized. PMID:23809112

The state of a quantum system being described by a density operator ρ, quantum statistical mechanics calls the quantity - kTr( ρln ρ), introduced by von Neumann, its von Neumann or statistical entropy. A 1999 Shenker's paper initiated a debate about its link with the entropy of phenomenological thermodynamics. Referring to Gibbs's and von Neumann's founding texts, we replace von Neumann's 1932 contribution in its historical context, after Gibbs's 1902 treatise and before the creation of the information entropy concept, which places boundaries into the debate. Reexamining von Neumann's reasoning, we stress that the part of his reasoning implied in the debate mainly uses thermodynamics, not quantum mechanics, and identify two implicit postulates. We thoroughly examine Shenker's and ensuing papers, insisting upon the presence of open thermodynamical subsystems, imposing us the use of the chemical potential concept. We briefly mention Landau's approach to the quantum entropy. On the whole, it is shown that von Neumann's viewpoint is right, and why Shenker's claim that von Neumann entropy "is not the quantum-mechanical correlate of thermodynamic entropy" can't be retained.

Albert Reder von Schellmann (1826-1904) was an important syphilidologist of the Vienna Medical School in the second half of the nineteenth century. He went in for the dualistic concept of the origin of syphilis and ulcer caused by soft chancre. In 1870 - Reder became head of a third dermato-syphilidologic department in the "Josephinum" in Vienna, where military surgeons got their medical education. At the same time the two full professorships of dermatosyphilidology in the Vienna General Hospital were held by Ferdinand von Hebra (1816-1880) and Carl Ludwig Sigmund von Ilanor (1810-1883).

Hemostasis and pathological thrombus formation are dynamic processes that require multiple adhesive receptor-ligand interactions, with blood platelets at the heart of such events. Many studies have contributed to shed light on the importance of von Willebrand factor (VWF) interaction with its platelet receptors, glycoprotein (GP) Ib-IX-V and αIIbβ3 integrin, in promoting primary platelet adhesion and aggregation following vessel injury. This review will recapitulate our current knowledge on the subject from the rheological aspect to the spatio-temporal development of thrombus formation. We will also discuss the signaling events generated by VWF/GPIb-IX-V interaction, leading to platelet activation. Additionally, we will review the growing body of evidence gathered from the recent development of pathological mouse models suggesting that VWF binding to GPIb-IX-V is a promising target in arterial and venous pathological thrombosis. Finally, the pathological aspects of VWF and its impact on platelets will be addressed.

We study Jauch-Piron states and two-valued measures on von Neumann algebra. We prove as the main result that, under some set-theoretical assumption, a pure state of a von Neumann algebra A not containing a central abelian portion is Jauch-Piron if and only if it is σ-additive. Moreover, we show that this result holds for type I factor indenpendently on the set-theoretical axiomatics. As a consequence we obtain a lucid characterization of pure Jauch-Piron states on von Neumann algebras acting on a Hilbert space with real-nonmeasurable dimension (this can be viewed as a generalization of the paper). We also characterize the von Neumann algebras whose logic of projections is Jauch-Piron. Finally, we prove that every two-valued measure on the projection logic of A, where A contains no type I 2 central portion, has to be concentrated at an abelian direct summand of A. (orig.)

Frobenius theory about the cyclic structure of eigenvalues of irreducible non negative matrices is extended to the case of positive linear maps of von Neumann algebras. Semigroups of such maps and ergodic properties are also considered. (orig.) [de

Full Text Available A computational algorithm of a discrete model of von Mises planar steel truss is presented. The structure deformation is evaluated by seeking the minimal potential energy. The critical force invented by mathematical solution was compared with solution by computer algorithm. Symmetric and asymmetric effects of initial shape of geometric imperfection of axis of struts are used in model. The shapes of buckling of von Mises planar truss of selected vertical displacement of top joint are shown.

According to what has become a standard history of quantum mechanics, in 1932 von Neumann persuaded the physics community that hidden variables are impossible as a matter of principle, after which leading proponents of the Copenhagen interpretation put the situation to good use by arguing that the completeness of quantum mechanics was undeniable. This state of affairs lasted, so the story continues, until Bell in 1966 exposed von Neumann's proof as obviously wrong. The realization that von Neumann's proof was fallacious then rehabilitated hidden variables and made serious foundational research possible again. It is often added in recent accounts that von Neumann's error had been spotted almost immediately by Grete Hermann, but that her discovery was of no effect due to the dominant Copenhagen Zeitgeist. We shall attempt to tell a story that is more historically accurate and less ideologically charged. Most importantly, von Neumann never claimed to have shown the impossibility of hidden variables tout court, but argued that hidden-variable theories must possess a structure that deviates fundamentally from that of quantum mechanics. Both Hermann and Bell appear to have missed this point; moreover, both raised unjustified technical objections to the proof. Von Neumann's argument was basically that hidden-variables schemes must violate the ;quantum principle; that physical quantities are to be represented by operators in a Hilbert space. As a consequence, hidden-variables schemes, though possible in principle, necessarily exhibit a certain kind of contextuality. As we shall illustrate, early reactions to Bohm's theory are in agreement with this account. Leading physicists pointed out that Bohm's theory has the strange feature that pre-existing particle properties do not generally reveal themselves in measurements, in accordance with von Neumann's result. They did not conclude that the ;impossible was done; and that von Neumann had been shown wrong.

Full Text Available Article in GermanAbstract in English and GermanAlexander von Humboldt and his correspondents liked to enrich or embellish their letters with quotations from classic works of ancient literature as well as from recent poems, plays, or novels. This paper tries to show that references to literature were very often used in order to express thoughts and feelings more clearly not so much for impressing the recipients of letters with high education. In educated circles a good knowledge of ancient and modern works of literature was a standard requirement, which often allowed the letter writers to use quotations in a playful manner.

Richard von Volkmann (1830-1889), one of the most important surgeons of the 19(th) century, is regarded as one of the fathers of orthopaedic surgery. He was a contemporary of Langenbeck, Esmarch, Lister, Billroth, Kocher, and Trendelenburg. He was head of the Department of Surgery at the University of Halle, Germany (1867-1889). His popularity attracted doctors and patients from all over the world. He was the lead physician for the German military during two wars. From this experience, he compared the mortality of civilian and war injuries and investigated the general poor hygienic conditions in civilian hospitals. This led him to introduce the "antiseptic technique" to Germany that was developed by Lister. His powers of observation and creativity led him to findings and achievements that to this day bear his name: Volkmann's contracture and the Hueter-Volkmann law. Additionally, he was a gifted writer; he published not only scientific literature but also books of children's fairy tales and poems under the pen name of Richard Leander, assuring him a permanent place in the world of literature as well as orthopaedics.

Full Text Available Article in German, Abstracts in English, German and French.This article analyses the importance of an historical view of nature in the works of Alexander von Humboldt. In several of his first writings, Humboldt seems to outline the importance of what one may call history of nature. But even before his famous American travel, his position changed and he became reluctant to accept the seriousness of historical enquiry in the area of natural sciences: if we want to reconstruct the past state of nature, we cannot rely on empirical proofs; and history of nature is therefore necessarily based on uncertain hypotheses. Humboldt kept his sceptical attitude in the first decades of the 19th century, despite the positive results of the palaeontological researches of his scientific colleagues. However, he gradually convinced himself of the scientific interest of historical investigations in the natural sciences. The Cosmos paradoxally displays two apparently conflicting points of view: in his methodological remarks, Humboldt maintains that precise accounts of the past state of nature are out of reach of human knowledge, yet elsewhere in the same Cosmos he gives broad and rather vivid descriptions of the eventful history of nature.

In this paper, the authors provide a combinatorial/numerical method to establish new hypercontractivity estimates in group von Neumann algebras. They illustrate their method with free groups, triangular groups and finite cyclic groups, for which they obtain optimal time hypercontractive L_2 \\to L_q inequalities with respect to the Markov process given by the word length and with q an even integer. Interpolation and differentiation also yield general L_p \\to L_q hypercontrativity for 1 < p \\le q < \\infty via logarithmic Sobolev inequalities. The authors' method admits further applications to other discrete groups without small loops as far as the numerical part-which varies from one group to another-is implemented and tested on a computer. The authors also develop another combinatorial method which does not rely on computational estimates and provides (non-optimal) L_p \\to L_q hypercontractive inequalities for a larger class of groups/lengths, including any finitely generated group equipped with a condit...

Full Text Available Context: Acquired von Willebrand syndrome (AVWS is a rare bleeding disorder that mimics the inherited form of von Willebrand disease (VWD in terms of laboratory findings and clinical presentation. Aims: To study the etiology of acquired VWD. Settings and Design: The patients referred from various hospitals in and out of Mumbai were included in the study. Materials and Methods: Six patients with AVWS diagnosed at this center over the last 10 years were analyzed against 171 patients with inherited VWD. The differential diagnosis of AVWS was made based on reduced levels of von Willebrand antigen and von Willebrand ristocetin cofactor, decrease in ristocetin induced platelet aggregation, absence of correction in mixing studies with no prior history of bleeding problems and a negative family history for bleeding disorders. Results: In three patients, the disease was associated with systematic lupus erythematosus, out of which one was also associated with Kikuchi lymphadenitis and second with autoimmune hemolytic anemia. Fourth case was associated with hypothyroidism and fifth was a case of dermatitis and vitiligo. The last patient was a case of hemophilia A with Burkitts lymphoma, who developed autoantibodies to von Willebrand factor. Except two patients, all other patients responded to immune suppressive therapy with corticosteroids, while the patient with hypothyroidism responded to oral thyroxine. Conclusion: AVWS is a rare condition and may often be missed or diagnosed as inherited disease associated with heterogeneous disease conditions.

We discuss information-theoretic concepts on infinite-dimensional quantum systems. In particular, we lift the smooth entropy formalism as introduced by Renner and collaborators for finite-dimensional systems to von Neumann algebras. For the smooth conditional min- and max-entropy, we recover similar characterizing properties and information-theoretic operational interpretations as in the finite-dimensional case. We generalize the entropic uncertainty relation with quantum side information of Tomamichel and Renner and discuss applications to quantum cryptography. In particular, we prove the possibility to perform privacy amplification and classical data compression with quantum side information modeled by a von Neumann algebra

Written by veteran aerospace journalist Bob Ward, who spent years investigating his subject, this biography presents a revealing but even-handed portrait of the father of modern rocketry. As he chronicles Wernher von Braun's life, Ward explodes many myths and misconceptions about the controversial genius who was a hero to some, a villain to others. The picture of von Braun that emerges is of a brilliant scientist with limitless curiosity and a drive to achieve his goals at almost any price from, developing the world's first ballistic missile used against the Allies in World War II to help

We discuss information-theoretic concepts on infinite-dimensional quantum systems. In particular, we lift the smooth entropy formalism as introduced by Renner and collaborators for finite-dimensional systems to von Neumann algebras. For the smooth conditional min- and max-entropy, we recover similar characterizing properties and information-theoretic operational interpretations as in the finite-dimensional case. We generalize the entropic uncertainty relation with quantum side information of Tomamichel and Renner and discuss applications to quantum cryptography. In particular, we prove the possibility to perform privacy amplification and classical data compression with quantum side information modeled by a von Neumann algebra.

An extensive reliance on technology, an abundance of data, and increasing processing requirements have imposed severe challenges on computing and data processing. Moreover, the roadmap for scaling electronic components faces physical and reliability limits that hinder the utilization of the transistors in conventional systems and promotes the need for faster, energy-efficient, and compact nano-devices. This work thus capitalizes on emerging non-volatile memory technologies, particularly the memristor for steering novel design directives. Moreover, aside from the conventional deterministic operation, a temporal variability is encountered in the devices functioning. This inherent stochasticity is addressed as an enabler for endorsing the stochastic electronics field of study. We tackle this approach of design by proposing and verifying a statistical approach to modelling the stochastic memristors behaviour. This mode of operation allows for innovative computing designs within the approximate computing and beyond Von-Neumann domains. In the context of approximate computing, sacrificing functional accuracy for the sake of energy savings is proposed based on inherently stochastic electronic components. We introduce mathematical formulation and probabilistic analysis for Boolean logic operators and correspondingly incorporate them into arithmetic blocks. Gate- and system-level accuracy of operation is presented to convey configurability and the different effects that the unreliability of the underlying memristive components has on the intermediary and overall output. An image compression application is presented to reflect the efficiency attained along with the impact on the output caused by the relative precision quantification. In contrast, in neuromorphic structures the memristors variability is mapped onto abstract models of the noisy and unreliable brain components. In one approach, we propose using the stochastic memristor as an inherent source of variability in

In the Introduction the reader is referred back to the academic ceremonials held after Theodore von Kármán's death in Aachen in May 1963. His work as the first director of the Aerodynamisches Institut (Institute of Aerodynamics) of the RWTH Aachen University of Technology from 1913 on and his initiative to re-establish international cooperation after World War I, resulting in the International Union of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics (IUTAM), are commented on. The following chapter describes von Kármán's relation to his former teacher Ludwig Prandtl. Some of von Kármán's scientific contributions during his time in Aachen are briefly reviewed. Thereafter, his first contacts to the California Institute of Technology are covered. Finally, the scientific and political circumstances, which led to von Kármán's decision to leave Germany in the early thirties, are elucidated in some detail. The English translation of the titles of the Aachen papers is given in Appendix I.

In 1950, Dr. Wernher von Braun and approximately 100 of his team members came to Huntsville, Alabama, to begin work with the Army on what would later become America's historic space program. He would later serve as the first director of the Marshall Space Flight Center and led the development of the Saturn V launch vehicle that launched seven crewed American mission to the moon, as well as America s first space station, Skylab. Von Braun is best known for his team s technical achievements. He realized his dream of exploring outer space by helping place humans on the moon. His engineering and managerial talent during the Apollo era had contributed to a technological revolution. He was by all accounts a good engineer, but he was only one among many. What set Von Braun apart were his charisma, his vision, and his leadership skills. He inspired loyalty and dedication in the people around him. He understood the importance of communicating his vision to his team, to political and business leaders and the public. Today, the Marshall Center continues his vision by pursuing engineering and scientific projects that will continue to open space to exploration. This presentation will discuss Von Braun's impact on Huntsville, the Marshall Center, the nation and the world and look at his contributions in context of where world space exploration is today.

For pure states nonlinear Schroedinger equations, the so-called Schroedinger-Langevin equations are well-known to model quantum dissipative systems of the Langevin type. For mixtures it is shown that these wave equations do not extend to master equations, but to corresponding nonlinear von Neumann equations. Solutions for the damped harmonic oscillator are discussed. (Auth.)

For pure states nonlinear Schroedinger equations, the so-called Schroedinger-Langevin equations are well-known to model quantum dissipative systems of the Langevin type. For mixtures it is shown that these wave equations do not extend to master equations, but to corresponding nonlinear von Neumann equations. Solutions for the damped harmonic oscillator are discussed. (Author)

Dr. von Braun stands beside a model of the upper stage (Earth-returnable stage) of the three-stage launch vehicle built for the series of the motion picture productions of space flight produced by Walt Disney in the mid-1950's.

In this essay Clarence Joldersma explores radical constructivism through the work of its most well-known advocate, Ernst von Glasersfeld, who combines a sophisticated philosophical discussion of knowledge and truth with educational practices. Joldersma uses Joseph Rouse's work in philosophy of science to criticize the antirealism inherent in…

Dr. Wernher von Braun holds the coveted Hermarn Oberth award presented to him by Professor Oberth during the banquet hosted by the Alabama Section of the American Rocket Society (ARS), on October 19, 1961. The Oberth award was given for outstanding technical contributions to the field of astronautics or for the promotion and advancement of astronautical sciences.

We study Bayes procedures for nonparametric regression problems with Gaussian errors, giving conditions under which a Bernstein–von Mises result holds for the marginal posterior distribution of the error standard deviation. We apply our general results to show that a single Bayes procedure using a

We study Bayes procedures for nonparametric regression problems with Gaussian errors, giving conditions under which a Bernstein-von Mises result holds for the marginal posterior distribution of the error standard deviation. We apply our general results to show that a single Bayes procedure using a

Portulaca advena Reichg. & Von Poellnitz (1939), based on adventive specimens collected near Erp, prov. N.-Brabant, Netherlands, and afterwards cultivated in a garden at Nijmegen, appears to be identical with the South American P. papulosa Schldl. (1853). The adventive species of Portulaca found in

Landscape took on a new meaning through the new science of plant geography of Alexander von Humboldt (1769-1857). In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, "landscape" was foremost a painterly genre. Slowly, painted landscapes came to bear on natural surroundings, but by 1800 it was still not

We present a definition of spectral flow for any norm closed ideal J in any von Neumann algebra N. Given a path of selfadjoint operators in N which are invertible in N/J, the spectral flow produces a class in Ko (J). Given a semifinite spectral triple (A, H, D) relative to (N, t) with A separable...

textabstractWe relate Morita equivalence for von Neumann algebras to the ``Connes fusion'' tensor product between correspondences. In the purely algebraic setting, it is well known that rings are Morita equivalent if and only if they are equivalent objects in a bicategory whose 1-cells are

We show that there are games and decision situations in which it is not possible for the decision maker to be rational a la von Neumann-Morgenstern in both situations simultaneously, which is the source of the paradox presented in this note. We provide an assumption which is the necessary and

Von Neumann's method of generating random variables with the exponential distribution and Forsythe's method for obtaining distributions with densities of the form e/sup -G//sup( x/) are generalized to apply to certain power series representations. The flexibility of the power series methods is illustrated by algorithms for the Cauchy and geometric distributions

A case is presented of a bile duct hamartoma in a 44 year old man being evaluated for abdominal pain. The computed tomography (CT) findings suggested micro-abscesses in the liver and a CT guided tru-cut biopsy showed von Meyenburg complex. 9 refs., 3 figs

In this paper we answer a question raised in [12] in the affirmative, namely that the essential minimum modulus of an element in a von. Neumann algebra, relative to any norm closed two-sided ideal, is equal to the minimum modulus of the element perturbed by an element from the ideal. As a corollary of this result, we ...

BACKGROUND: One of the major determinants of von Willebrand factor (VWF) plasma levels is ABO blood group status, and individuals with blood group O have ~ 25% lower plasma levels. The exact mechanism behind this relationship remains unknown, although effects on clearance have been postulated.

Von Willebrand disease is an inherited condition characterized by deficiency of von Willebrand factor, which is essential in hemostasis. The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute has released new evidence-based guidelines for the diagnosis and management of the disease. There are three major subtypes of von Willebrand disease, classified as partial quantitative deficiency (low levels) of von Willebrand factor (type 1), qualitative deficiency (type 2), or virtually complete deficiency (type 3). Diagnosis is usually made by reviewing the patient's personal and family history of bleeding and by clinical evaluation for more common reasons for bleeding, supplemented with laboratory tests. Assessment may be used to determine bleeding risk before surgery and other invasive procedures, and to diagnose reasons for unexplained hemorrhaging. Von Willebrand factor levels of 30 IU per dL or lower are required for the definite diagnosis of inherited von Willebrand disease. Persons with levels of 30 to 50 IU per dL may not have the disease, but may need agents to increase von Willebrand factor levels during invasive procedures or childbirth. Treatment is tailored to the subtype of the disease: increasing plasma concentration of von Willebrand factor by releasing endogenous stores with desmopressin or replacing nonexistent or ineffective von Willebrand factor by using human plasma-derived, viral-inactivated concentrates; treatment is often combined with hemostatic agents that have mechanisms other than increasing von Willebrand factor. Regular prophylaxis is seldom required, and treatment is initiated before planned invasive procedures or in response to bleeding.

Full Text Available Objective: to identify the possible factors of thrombogenic risk and ways of its prevention in patients with von Willebrand disease.Case description. Patient X., 42 years old, who suffers from von Willebrand disease type 3 with 5-years of age. Asked on reception to the traumatologist in the polyclinic of the Regional Hospital with pain in the left hip joint. Recommended planned operative treatment in the Altai Regional Clinical Hospital. Preoperative preparation included the infusion of concentrate of von Willebrand factor and coagulation factor VIII. Operation – cement total arthroplasty of the left hip joint. In the postoperative period analgesic treatment, elastic compression of the lower extremities, iron supplements, also conducted infusion of concentrate of von Willebrand factor and coagulation factor VIII for 20 days and thromboprophylactic with dabigatran. On the 3rd day after the operation the patient revealed deep vein thrombosis of the femoral segment (floating clot.Results. The patient was operated for emergency indications in the Department of endovascular surgery – installation of venous cava filter “Volan”. Dabigatran is cancelled, appointed clexane for 3 months. In our clinical example the patient lacked risk factors of pulmonary embolism as obesity, age, smoking, prolonged immobilization, estrogen therapy. Overdose of factor VIII were not observed – the level of factor did not exceed 135 % on transfusions. At the same time, the patient was found polymorphisms in the genes ITGA2, FGB, MTHFR, MTR – heterozygote, MTRR – mutant homozygote, which may indicate the genetic factors of thrombogenic risk. Also a significant risk factor was massive surgical intervention (total hip replacement. Despite preventive measures (elastic compression, thromboprophylactic dabigatran, early activation we cannot to avoid thrombotic complications.Conclusion. This article presents a case demonstrating a thrombotic complication in patients

Dienones obtained from the facile dearomatization of phenols, can be further transformed to semi-benzenes prone to rearomatize in clean, but sometimes unexpected, fashion. Over a hundred years ago, K. von Auwers found that adding Grignards on dienones would lead spontaneously to subsequent dehydration and a novel aromatizing rearrangement. This reaction was ignored for 50 years before Melvin Newman re-investigated these findings, studied the mechanism, and developed variations on the same theme. Since then, despite the tremendous potential of the reactions, those studies were only rarely mentioned, before finally falling into oblivion. This review aims to provide the reader with a detailed history and comprehensive bibliography of the von Auwers rearrangement, some of its synthetic applications, and new unpublished material in the hope to open new perspectives on this forgotten reaction.

Full Text Available Article in German,Abstracts in English, German and Spanish. Focussing Alexander von Humboldt's Vues des Cordillères et Monumens des peuples indigènes de l'Amérique (1810 - 1813 in the context of his monumental work, this essay tries to highlight not only the creation of a new discourse on the Americas but, at the same time, the project(ion of a new order of world cultures. From a transregional perspective, Humboldt's aesthetically most radical book can be fully understood as a musée imaginaire of world cultures whose spatial, temporal, social, literary, frictional, architextual and cultural dimensions allow new insights in one of the most fascinating texts of the early 19th century. Alexander von Humboldt's Vues are creating a transmedial kaleidoscope within a fractal vision of the cultures of the world in the second period of accelerated globalization.

Full Text Available Two litters of Germanshepherd dogs were evaluated for a haemorrhagic tendency that was characterised by excessive bleeding from the umbilicus at birth, haemorrhage and haematoma formation at vaccination, excessive bruising, and lameness due to haemarthrosis. Platelet counts, clotting times and Von Willebrand's factor (VWF assays were assessed in all dogs. Factor VIII determination was performed in 1 puppy and its parents. Based on the clotting times and VWF assay, 6 puppies (4 male and 2 female showed type I Von Willebrand's disease (VWD, 5 (4 male and 1 female possible type II VWD, and 4 were unaffected. One puppy with possible type II VWD had very low factor VIII activity; its sire had a normal factor activity, whereas the dam was in the low-normal range. This article reports type I and possible type II VWD in 2 related litters of German shepherd dogs, the latter being rare in German shepherd dogs.

Ebba von Fersen Balzan first came to Malta in 1986. She was mostly fascinated by Maltese culture and as an artist she was particularly attracted to the intense light of the Maltese landscape, the colour of the Maltese stone and the megalithic temples. In 1989 she held her first exhibitions in Malta: the first exhibition, in aid of Alternattiva Demokratika, was held at the hotel Phoenicia and another followed at the Museum of Fine Arts in Valletta.

Portal hypertension is the most common complication of cirrhosis of the liver and leads to a reversal of blood flow and re-opening of pre-formed portal-systemic collaterals. Amongst a variety of possible hepato-fugal collaterals, the Cruveilhier-von Baumgarten syndrome, consisting of the reopening of umbilical veins, is a rare variant. It has been possible to demonstrate this clearly by sonography in 18 patients.

The relationship between the astronomer von Zach on the one side and the entrepreneur Joseph von Utzschneider and his partner Georg von Reichenbach on the other dates presumably from the year 1807 when Zach spent two months in Munich. Already in the same year Zach had ordered an instrument for himself and began to solicit business for the institute of Reichenbach, Utzschneider, and Liebherr, which was founded in 1804. One of the clients canvassed by Zach was the director of the observatory in Naples Zuccari. Zuccari had ordered the whole equipment for the new observatory from this institute in 1813. The instruments for Naples, which were completed in 1814, were sent accompanied by Reichenbach by land and sea to their destination where Reichenbach supervised their setup. At that time Reichenbach had separated from Utzschneider who kept the optical institute in Benediktbeuern with his new partner Joseph von Fraunhofer whereas Reichenbach became owner of the mathematical-mechanical institute in Munich. For personal and economical reasons Utzschneider began soon after to produce not only optical glass but also optical devices similar to those offered by Reichenbach. As soon as two institutes in Munich competed against each other on the market for sophisticated geodetical and astronomical instruments Zach sided with Utzschneider. Zach's main professional argument for this decision was that both competitors got the optical glass for their instruments from Utzschneider's optical institute in Benediktbeuern. This meant that Utzschneider had first choice and so the optical part of his instruments could be considered as better than that of Reichenbach`s instruments. Zach's role as an agent in Italy and France for the sale of products coming from Utzschneider's manufactories is highlighted by three of Zach's letters to Utzschneider from 1817 and 1818, two of which are reproduced here for the first time.

We study Bayes procedures for nonparametric regression problems with Gaussian errors, giving conditions under which a Bernstein–von Mises result holds for the marginal posterior distribution of the error standard deviation. We apply our general results to show that a single Bayes procedure using a hierarchical spline-based prior on the regression function and an independent prior on the error variance, can simultaneously achieve adaptive, rate-optimal estimation of a smooth, multivariate regr...

The history, clinical symptoms and laboratory results in two families of Doberman pinschers with von Willebrand's disease are described. The affected animals illustrate the rather nonspecific bleeding problems that may be encountered in mild and moderate forms of this disease. In both families a bleeding diathesis was suspected when one member of the family underwent surgery with serious postoperative bleeding complications. These cases illustrate the importance of a thorough presurgical hist...

Portal hypertension is the most common complication of cirrhosis of the liver and leads to a reversal of blood flow and re-opening of pre-formed portal-systemic collaterals. Amongst a variety of possible hepato-fugal collaterals, the Cruveilhier-von Baumgarten syndrome, consisting of the reopening of umbilical veins, is a rare variant. It has been possible to demonstrate this clearly by sonography in 18 patients. (orig.) [de

Prospect Theory (1979) and its Cumulative version (1992) argue for probability weighting to explain lottery choices. Decision Utility Theory presents an alternative solution, which makes no use of this concept. The new theory distinguishes decision and perception utility, postulates a double S-shaped decision utility curve similar to one hypothesized by Markowitz (1952), and applies the expected decision utility value similarly to the theory by von Neumann and Morgenstern (1944). Decision Uti...

Local operations with classical communication (LOCC) and separable operations are two classes of quantum operations that play key roles in the study of quantum entanglement. Separable operations are strictly more powerful than LOCC, but no simple explanation of this phenomenon is known. We show that, in the case of von Neumann measurements, the ability to interpolate measurements is an operational principle that sets apart LOCC and separable operations

Despite his conviction on a morals charge involving a boy, the early German Social Democrat Johann Baptist von Schweitzer went on to have a successful political career. His life furnishes the context to present remarks by his political opponents Marx and Engels, which reveal their deep-seated homophobia. It is pointed out that this has been glossed over by the translations of the recently published Marx/Engels Collected Works. Some remarks on boy-love and anarchism are appended.

Von Neumann algebras M of bounded operators on self-dual Hilbert W* moduli H possessing a cyclic-separating element x-bar in H are considered. The close relation of them to certain real subspaces of H is established. Under the supposition that the underlying W*-algebra is commutative, a Tomita-Takesaki type theorem is stated. The natural cone in H arising from the pair (M, x-bar) is investigated and its properties are obtained

Full Text Available Acquired von Willebrand syndrome (AVWS is an uncommon, underdiagnosed, and heterogeneous disease which is increasingly recognized as a cause of bleeding diatheses. Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE is an infrequent cause of AVWS. Herein, we report a case of AVWS diagnosed during the initial presentation of SLE in a previously healthy young man with no family history of bleeding diathesis who presented with worsening epistaxis, gastrointestinal bleeding, and anasarca. He was found to have severe anemia and prolonged activated partial thromboplastin time (aPTT with severely decreased levels of von Willebrand factor (VWF measurements in addition to markedly decreased factor VIII levels. Further evaluation revealed nephrotic syndrome and interstitial lung disease due to SLE. He initially received combination therapy with intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG and von Willebrand factor/factor VIII concentrates without significant improvement. Treatment with steroids, cyclophosphamide, and rituximab was followed by clinical improvement evidenced by cessation of bleeding. The short follow-up did not allow us to definitely prove the therapeutic effect of immunosuppressive treatment on AVWS in SLE patients. This case adds to the literature supporting the relationship between AVWS and SLE and highlights the importance of combination therapy in the treatment of severe AVWS as well as the role of IVIG, cyclophosphamide, and rituximab in AVWS associated with SLE.

To assess compliance with a periodic surveillance regimen for Von Hippel-Lindau disease. In this nationwide study, Von Hippel-Lindau disease mutation carriers and those at 50% risk were invited to complete a questionnaire assessing (compliance with) advice given for periodic surveillance. Medical record data on compliance with recommended radiologic surveillance examinations were also collected. Of the 84 (77%) participants, 78 indicated having received advice to undergo periodic surveillance. Of these, 71 reported being fully compliant with that advice. In 64% of the cases, this advice was only partially consistent with published guidelines. Based on medical record data, between one quarter and one third of individuals did not undergo surveillance as recommended in the guidelines for central nervous system lesions and one half for visceral lesions. Screening delay for central nervous system lesions was significantly higher in one hospital and in those cases where "the advice given" deviated from the guidelines. The majority of those with or at risk of Von Hippel-Lindau disease reported having received and being fully compliant with screening advice. However, in many cases, the advice given was only partially consistent with published guidelines, and screening delays were observed. Efforts should be undertaken to stimulate guideline-based surveillance advice and to minimize screening delay.

We performed a comparative analysis of the arguments of Einstein, Podolsky and Rosen -- EPR, 1935 (against the completeness of QM) and the theoretical formalism of QM (due to von Neumann, 1932). We found that the EPR considerations do not match at all with the von Neumann's theory. Thus EPR did not criticize the real theoretical model of QM. The root of EPR's paradoxical conclusion on incompleteness of QM is the misuse of von Neumann's projection postulate. EPR applied this postulate to obser...

Von Willebrand Disease (VWD) is the most common human inherited bleeding disorder due to a defect of Von Willebrand Factor (VWF), which a glycoprotein crucial for platelet adhesion to the subendothelium after vascular injury. VWD include quantitative defects of VWF, either partial (type 1 with VWF levels < 50 IU/dL) or virtually total (type 3 with undetectable VWF levels) and also qualitative defects of VWF (type 2 variants with discrepant antigenic and functional VWF levels). The most bleeding forms of VWD usually do not concern type 1 patients with the mildest VWF defects (VWF levels between 30 and 50IU/dL). Von willebrand factor is a complex multimeric protein with two functions: it forms a bridge between the platelets and areas of vascular damage and it binds to and stabilizes factor VIII, which is necessary for the clotting cascade. By taking a clinical history of bleeding (mucocutaneous bleeding symptoms suggestive of a primary haemostatic disorder, a quantitative or qualitative abnormality of VWF is possible) it is important to think about VWD and to make the appropriate diagnosis. If the VWD is suspected diagnostic tests should include an activated partial thromboplastin time, bleeding time, factor VIII: C Ristocetin cofactor and vWF antigen. Additional testing of ristocetin induced plattlet adhesion (RIPA) the multimeric structure and collagen binding test and genanalysis allow diagnosing the different types of von. Willebrand Disease. The treatment of choice in mild forms is the synthetic agent desmopressin. In patients with severe type 1, type 2B, 2N and type 3 or in people who do not response to desmopressin, the appropriate treatment is a factor VIII concentrate that is rich of VWF. We report a case of infant in 27-month-old boy who had been referred due to haemorrhagic shock. His birth histories, his familie's social history and developmental milestones were unremarkable. He was born at full term with no antenatal or perinatal complications. Prior to

During the evaluation of ultrasonic images, e.g. SAFT-reconstructed B-scan images (SAFT=Synthetic Aperture Focusing Technique) it is often difficult to decide, what is the origin of reconstructed image points: were they caused by defects, specimens geometry or mode-conversions. To facilitate this evaluation a tool based on the comparison of data was developed. Different kinds of data comparison are possible: identification of that RF-signals, which caused the reconstructed image point. This is the comparison of a reconstructed image with the corresponding RF-data. Comparison of two reconstructed images performing a superposition using logical operators. In this case e.g. the reconstruction of an unknown reflector is compared with that of a known one. Comparison of raw-RF-data by simultaneous scanning through two data sets. Here the echoes of an unknown reflector are compared with the echoes of a known one. The necessary datasets of known reflectors may be generated experimentally on reference reflectors or modelled. The aim is the identification of the reflector type, e.g. cracklike or not, the determination of position, size and orientation as well as the identification of accompanying satellite echoes. The interpretation of the SAFT-reconstructed B-scan image is carried out by a complete description of the reflector. In addition to the aim of interpretation the tool described is well suited to educate and train ultrasonic testers. (orig./MM) [Deutsch] Bei der Auswertung von Ultraschall-Abbildungen, z.B. SAFT-rekonstruierten B-Bildern (SAFT=Synthetische Apertur Fokus Technik), ist es oft schwierig zu entscheiden, wo rekonstruierte Bildpunkte herruehren: wurden sie durch Materialfehler, Bauteilgeometrie oder durch Wellenumwandlungen versursacht. Um diese Auswertung zu erleichtern, wurde ein Werkzeug entwickelt, welches auf dem Vergleich von Datensaetzen basiert. Es koennen verschiedene Arten des Datenvergleichs durchgefuehrt werden: Identifikation der HF

The Furstenberg recurrence theorem (or equivalently Szemerédi’s theorem) can be formulated in the language of von Neumann algebras as follows: given an integer k ≥ 2, an abelian finite von Neumann algebra (M,τ) with an automorphism α : M→M, and a nonnegative a in M with τ(a) > 0, one has liminf

We present necessary and sufficient conditions for a cellular automaton with a von Neumann neighborhood of range one to be number-conserving. The conditions are formulated for any dimension and for any set of states containing zero. The use of the geometric structure of the von Neumann neighborhood allows for computationally tractable conditions even in higher dimensions. (paper)

Full Text Available The article presents Heinrich von Wlislocki – a folklorist, literary historian, linguist and educator, wide ly known in the scientific circles of Europe of the late XIX century, as one of the first XIX century European researcher of the gypsies – in the memories of his contemporaries. He was a Doctor of Philosophy, one of those whom his colleagues called a “friend of the Gypsies”, he went to wander with the camp of Transylvanian gypsies to collect field material directly in their midst. As a result, about 80 papers were published in selected publications, as well as in well-known scientific journals in Europe. Most often, his publications could be seen in the Journal of the Gypsy Lore Society, of which he was a member. Being a contemporary of George Henry Borrow (1803–1881, Alexander Gheorghe Paspati (1814–1891, Charles Godfrey Leland (1824–1903, Francis Hindes Grum (1851–1902, Anton Herrmann (1851–1926, Hans Ferdinand Helmolt (1865–1929, Heinrich von Wlislocki (1856–1907 was one of the few folklorists and connoisseurs of Gypsy life and culture of the XIX century. The latter completely immersed themselves in the life of the Gypsy, mastering for the first time the ethnographic method of included observation. It was a heroic period of studying folklore in Europe, when dedicated scientists created a folkloric field of research from the scratch. 110 years passed since the death of Heinrich von Wlislocki but this did not erase his name from the historical memory, folklorist researchers still refer to his works, including them in scientific circulation.

Otto von Guericke's scientific method was based on reason and experimental science. His cosmology was embedded in theology and can be interpreted as a refutation of Descartes' worldview. He used Nicolaus Cusanus' theory of quantities in order to characterize space. The notion of space has to be distinguished from that of world or heaven. Forces play a crucial role in this respect described by Athanasius Kircher in his "Celestial Journey". Guericke read this work very diligently. In spite of some obvious similarities between Guericke's and Newton's scientific aims and methods there are crucial differences between the scientific convictions and results of these scholars.

The lack of knowledge that an observer has about a system limits the amount of work it can extract. This lack of knowledge is normally quantified using the Gibbs/von Neumann entropy. We show that this standard approach is, surprisingly, only correct in very specific circumstances. In general, one should use the recently developed smooth entropy approach. For many common physical situations, including large but internally correlated systems, the resulting values for the extractable work can deviate arbitrarily from those suggested by the standard approach.

Von Neumann's continuous geometry has been considerably developed by Connes and is characterized by two fundamental concepts. First it is formulated without any direct reference to points and second it possesses a dimensional function. The present work explores the relevance of these two points to string theory as well as E-infinity theory. In particular we show that point-lessness and dimensional function implies fractality. In turn fractality leads to the concept of average or fuzzy symmetry and the elimination of gauge anomalies

Let σ be a surjective ultraweakly continuous *-linear mapping and d be a σ-derivation on a von Neumann algebra. We show that there are a surjective ultraweakly continuous *-homomorphism and a Σ-derivation such that D is ultraweakly continuous if and only if so is d. We use this fact to show that the σ-derivation d is automatically ultraweakly continuous. We also prove the converse in the sense that if σ is a linear mapping and d is an ultraweakly continuous *-σ-derivation, then there is an ultraweakly continuous linear mapping such that d is a *-Σ-derivation

for measurement of von Willebrand factor-osteoprotegerin complex (VWF:OPG) in human plasma. Furthermore, the significance of VWF:OPG complex as a marker of cardiovascular disease (CVD) was evaluated. PATIENTS/METHODS: A sandwich ELISA for quantification of VWF:OPG was developed using a polyclonal rabbit anti...... with and without documented coronary calcification (total n=118). RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: The assay detected VWF:OPG complexes in human plasma, while no significant signal was observed when testing solutions containing VWF or recombinant OPG alone. Importantly, the ELISA assay was able to detect in vitro formed...

We obtain the von Neumann entropy per state of the Haldane exclusion statistics with parameter g in terms of the mean occupation number bar n{wlnw-(1+w)ln(1+w)}, where w=(1-bar n). This reduces correctly to the well known expressions in the limiting cases of Bose (g=0) and Fermi (g=1) statistics. We have derived the second and third order fluctuations in the occupation numbers for arbitrary g. An elegant general duality relationship between the w factor associated with the particle and that associated with the hole at the reciprocal g is deduced along with the attendant relationship between the two respective entropies

von Willebrand factor (VWF) is a plasma protein that consists of a series of multimers of which the high-molecular-weight VWF multimers are the most potent in platelet adhesion and aggregation. The propeptide of the VWF (VWFpp) is known to be essential in the process of multimer assembly. Genetic...... mutation in the VWFpp abolishes multimerization of VWF. The mutation probably disrupts the normal configuration of the VWFpp, which is essential for correct orientation of the protomers and ultimately multimerization. The mutant amino acid is located in a region that is highly conserved across several...

Where the inside dump follows the line of face advance the bottom section of the frontal batter of the opencast mine is limited to a so-called face window which is as narrow as possible. Because of the resulting three-dimensional bearing effect the stability is greater and the deformations are less than is the case when excavation proceeds at the same depth over a long stretch. For years the three-dimensional support effect has been determined by means of a calculation model, developed at Rheinbraun, in which, for safety reasons, only the cohesion is assumed. The three-dimensional stability can however be determined ore accurately with a mechanism consisting of several individual elements sliding against each other. A large-scale test has meanwhile proved that this device corresponds to the actual conditions. Deformation calculations are carried out with increasing accuracy by a finite-element-method and on the basis of newly evolved constitutive relation. Cohesive and non-cohesive layers, faults and groundwater horizons are taken into account. For adjustment purposes detailed survey rangings are carried out, and the three-dimensional bearing effect and creep effects are now also allowed for. (orig.) [Deutsch] Die Tagebaurandboeschung wird bei einer dem Abbau folgenden Innenkippe in ihrem untersten Bereich auf ein moeglichst schmales Abbaufenster begrenzt. Durch die damit verbundene raeumliche Tragwirkung ergeben sich eine groessere Standfestigkeit und geringere Verformungen als bei einem ueber eine grosse Laenge gleich tiefen Aushub. Die raeumliche Stuetzwirkung wird in einem bei Rheinbraun entwickelten Rechenmodell bereits seit Jahren erfasst, wobei vorsichtshalber nur die Kohaesion angesetzt wird. Genauer wird die raeumliche Standfestigkeit mit einem Mechanismus aus mehreren gegeneinander gleitenden Teilkoerpern erfasst. Die Realitaetsnaehe wurde durch einen grossmassstaeblichen Versuch inzwischen belegt. Verformungsberechnungen werden mit einer Finite

Full Text Available von Hippel-Lindau syndrome (VHL is a rare, genetic multi-system disorder characterized by the abnormal growth of tumors in certain parts of the body (angiomatosis. The tumors of the central nervous system (CNS are benign and are comprised of a nest of blood vessels and are called hemangioblastomas. Hemangioblastomas may develop in the brain, the retina of the eyes, and other areas of the nervous system. Other types of tumors develop in the adrenal glands, the kidneys, or the pancreas. Symptoms of VHL vary among patients and depend on the size and location of the tumors. Symptoms may include headaches, problems with balance and walking, dizziness, weakness of the limbs, vision problems, and high blood pressure. Cysts (fluid-filled sacs and/or tumors (benign or cancerous may develop around the hemangioblastomas and cause the symptoms listed above. Individuals with VHL are also at a higher risk than normal for certain types of cancer, especially kidney cancer. Based on the case of 30-year old patient with characteristics of von Hippel-Lindau syndrome as phakomatosis.

The German Rocket Team, also known as the Von Braun Rocket Team, poses for a group photograph at Fort Bliss, Texas. After World War II ended in 1945, Dr. Wernher von Braun led some 120 of his Peenemuende Colleagues, who developed the V-2 rocket for the German military during the War, to the United Sttes under a contract to the U.S. Army Corps as part of Operation Paperclip. During the following five years the team worked on high altitude firings of the captured V-2 rockets at the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico, and a guided missile development unit at Fort Bliss, Texas. In April 1950, the group was transferred to the Army Ballistic Missile Agency (ABMA) at Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama, and continued to work on the development of the guided missiles for the U.S. Army until transferring to a newly established field center of the National Aeronautic and Space Administration (NASA), George C. Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC).

Von Willebrand disease (VWD) is an inherited bleeding disorder, caused by quantitative (type 1 and 3) or qualitative (type 2) defects in von Willebrand factor (VWF). Gene therapy is an appealing strategy for treatment of VWD because it is caused by a single gene defect and because VWF is secreted into the circulation, obviating the need for targeting specific organs or tissues. However, development of gene therapy for VWD has been hampered by the considerable length of the VWF cDNA (8.4 kb [kilobase]) and the inherent complexity of the VWF protein that requires extensive posttranslational processing. In this study, a gene-based approach for VWD was developed using lentiviral transduction of blood-outgrowth endothelial cells (BOECs) to express functional VWF. A lentiviral vector encoding complete human VWF was used to transduce BOECs isolated from type 3 VWD dogs resulting in high-transduction efficiencies (95.6% ± 2.2%). Transduced VWD BOECs efficiently expressed functional vector-encoded VWF (4.6 ± 0.4 U/24 hour per 106 cells), with normal binding to GPIbα and collagen and synthesis of a broad range of multimers resulting in phenotypic correction of these cells. These results indicate for the first time that gene therapy of type 3 VWD is feasible and that BOECs are attractive target cells for this purpose. PMID:16478886

In this study an attempt will be made to discuss the epistemological problems in the theory and practice of modern technical medicine in the writings of Hermann von Helmholz. An inquiry into the relationship between von Helmholtz' thinking and the critical philosophy of Immanuel Kant is followed by the characteristics of von Helmholtz' philosophy of science which he himself called "empirical theory". The question of medicine as a science finally leads to the main problem of medical epistemology, viz., the relationship between theoretical knowledge and practice in medicine. In this context the anthropological dimension is brought into consideration.

Hemangioblastoma is a benign vascular neoplasm of the central nervous system that occurs frequently in the cerebellum and other areas of the central nervous system including spinal cord and brainstem. Spinal hemangioblastoma can present as a sporadic isolated lesion or as a component of von Hippel-Lindau syndrome. The author presents a case of 32-year-old man with von Hippel-Lindau syndrome and spinal hemangioblastomas represented by multiple small spinal lesions, with an emphasis on the magnetic resonance imaging findings and clinical characteristics of von Hippel-Lindau syndrome-associated spinal hemangioblastomas.

Hemangioblastoma is a benign vascular neoplasm of the central nervous system that occurs frequently in the cerebellum and other areas of the central nervous system including spinal cord and brainstem. Spinal hemangioblastoma can present as a sporadic isolated lesion or as a component of von Hippel-Lindau syndrome. The author presents a case of 32-year-old man with von Hippel-Lindau syndrome and spinal hemangioblastomas represented by multiple small spinal lesions, with an emphasis on the magnetic resonance imaging findings and clinical characteristics of von Hippel-Lindau syndrome-associated spinal hemangioblastomas.

Full Text Available The paper presents the study of the value of von Willebrand factor as a marker of endothelial dysfunction for osteoporosis development and for prediction of risk of its formation in women with hypothyroidism. Postmenopausal women with hypothyroidism have significant increase of von Willebrand factor at lumbar osteopenia. High concentrations of von Willebrand factor in women with hypothyroidism follows to consider it as a predictor for osteoporosis development. Increased level of С-reactive protein belongs to the unfavorable prognostic signs in relation to the decline of bone mineral density for patients with primary hypothyroidism.

Sixteen patients with von Hippel-Lindau disease (VH-L) and 11 asymptomatic family members underwent a total of 29 central nervous system (CNS) and 23 body MR imaging evaluations during a 2-year study period. Nineteen CNS and spinal lesions and nine abdominal visceral lesions were identified on MR imaging and were confirmed at surgery or by other imaging modalities. MR imaging is superior to CT in the evaluation of intraocular vitreous abnormalities and cerebellar and spinal hemangioblastomas because of superior tissue characterization and lack of bone artifacts. MR imaging adequately demonstrated the abdominal visceral lesions. MR imaging is a sensitive and reliable imaging modality for the various lesions of VH-L

Full Text Available The accuracy of first pendulum gravity measurements in the Czech territory was determined using both original surveying notebooks of Robert Daublebsky von Sterneck and modern technologies. Since more accurate methods are used for gravity measurements nowadays, our work is mostly important from the historical point of view. In previous works, the accuracy of Sterneck’s gravity measurements was determined using only a small dataset. Here we process all Sterneck’s measurements from the Czech territory (a dataset ten times larger than in the previous works, and we complexly assess the accuracy of these measurements. Locations of the measurements were found with the help of original notebooks. Gravity in the site was interpolated using actual gravity models. Finally, the accuracy of Sterneck’s measurements was evaluated as the difference between the measured and interpolated gravity.

Full Text Available Based on a study of the custom, adopted by ethnologists in the early 20th century, of asking Amerindians of Lowland South America to do drawings in pencil in their notebooks, I explore three forgotten fragments of the history of thinking: the intense debates on the origin of ornaments, opposing an evolutionist and a materialist approach at the end of the 19th century; the theories on the origin of figuration, which I show date back to the important work of Karl von den Steinen regarding the populations of central Brazil; and the publications of ethnologists’ portraits drawn by Indians of the lowlands of South America, a little-known tradition of reverse anthropology serving as a counterpoint to the study of the reception of Amerindian art in Western ethnological literature.

Full Text Available To do justice to the legacy of Alexander von Humboldt, a 19th century German scientist and explorer an information and knowledge management system is required to preserve the author's original intent and promote an awareness of all his relevant works. Although all of Humboldt's works can be found on the internet as digitized papers, the complexity and internal interconnectivity of the writings is not very transparent. Humboldt's concepts of interaction cannot be adequately represented only by digitized papers or scanned documents. The Humboldt Portal is an attempt to create a new generation of digital libraries, providing a new form of interaction and synthesis between humanistic texts and scientific observation. The digital version of his documents supplies dynamic links to sources, maps, images, graphs and relevant texts in accordance with his visions, because "everything is interconnectedness".

We explore Ernst von Glaserfelds radical constructivism, its criticisms, and our own thoughts on what it promises for the reform of science and mathematics teaching. Our investigation reveals that many criticisms of radical constructivism are unwarranted; nevertheless, in its current cognitivist form radical constructivism may be insufficient to empower teachers to overcome objectivist cultural traditions. Teachers need to be empowered with rich understandings of philosophies of science and mathematics that endorse relativist epistemologies; for without such they are unlikely to be prepared to reconstruct their pedagogical practices. More importantly, however, is a need for a powerful social epistemology to serve as a referent for regenerating the culture of science education. We recommend blending radical constructivism with Habermas theory of communicative action to provide science teachers with a moral imperative for adopting a constructivist epistemology.

During their long personal friendship and professional association, Theodore von Karman (1882-1963) and Hugh L. Dryden (1898-1965) exercised a pivotal if somewhat elusive influence over American aeronautics and spaceflight. Both decisive figures in organizing scientists and engineers at home and abroad, both men of undisputed eminence in their technical fields, their range of contacts in government, academia, the armed forces, industry, and professional societies spanned the globe to an extent unparalleled then as now. Moreover, because they coordinated their activities closely, their combined influence far exceeded the sum of each one s individual contributions. This paper illustrates their personal origins as well as the foundations of their friendship, how their relationship became a professional alliance, and their joint impact on the world of aeronautics and astronautics during the twentieth century.

This study presents an in-depth analysis of Alexander von Humboldt's descriptions and critical comments on the colonial society of the different regions he visited during his well-known expedition through the Americas (1799-1804). The criticisms of colonialism that he expressed, reflecting his personal convictions, have already been the focal point of many studies, but Humboldt also was able to offer a more differentiated assessment through comparisons of regional and local traditions and developments. This essay focuses on his personal diaries, which offer many interesting comments on colonial societies. These considerations and impressions made during the expedition are of particular scholarly value since they were not subject to censorship of any kind.

Two corrections to the Thomas-Fermi theory of atoms are studied. First the correction for exchange, that is the effect of the Pauli principle in the interaction energy, is considered. The defining variational problem is non-convex and standard technique to prove existence of a minimizing solution do not apply. Existence and uniqueness of solutions are established by convexifying or relaxing the energy functional. Properties of the minimizing solution are studied. A second correction due to von Weizsaecker is also discussed. Finally the dual principle to the Thomas-Fermi variational problem is studied (only in the neutral case). A dual principle is suggested for the ionic case. Also, a review of recent rigorous results concerning Thomas-Fermi theory is presented

The stochastic dynamics of a population growth model, similar to the Von Foerster model for human population, is studied. The influence of fluctuating environment on the carrying capacity is modeled as a multiplicative dichotomous noise. It is established that an interplay between nonlinearity and environmental fluctuations can cause single unidirectional discontinuous transitions of the mean population size versus the noise amplitude, i.e., an increase of noise amplitude can induce a jump from a state with a moderate number of individuals to that with a very large number, while by decreasing the noise amplitude an opposite transition cannot be effected. An analytical expression of the mean escape time for such transitions is found. Particularly, it is shown that the mean transition time exhibits a strong minimum at intermediate values of noise correlation time, i.e., the phenomenon of stochastic resonance occurs. Applications of the results in ecology are also discussed.

The failure to recognize the programmatic similarity between (post-)Kantian German philosophy and early psychology has impoverished psychology's historical self-understanding to a great extent. This article aims to contribute to recent efforts to overcome the gaps in the historiography of contemporary psychology, which are the result of an empiricist bias. To this end, we present an analysis of the way in which Hermann von Helmholtz's theory of perception resonates with Johann Gottlieb Fichte's Ego-doctrine. It will be argued that this indebtedness is particularly clear when focusing on the foundation of the differential awareness of subject and object in perception. In doing so, the widespread reception of Helmholtz's work as proto-positivist or strictly empiricist is challenged, in favor of the claim that important elements of his theorizing can only be understood properly against the background of Fichte's Ego-doctrine. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved.

on expert opinions. We aimed to describe the course of vHL development in children and adolescents, focusing on age at first manifestation, manifestation frequencies, and types. The prevalence of vHL diagnosis as well as manifestations in childhood were evaluated based on 99 patients, who had started......The autosomal dominant von Hippel-Lindau disease (vHL) is associated with a lifelong risk of tumor development, especially retinal and CNS hemangioblastomas, pheochromocytoma, and renal cell carcinoma. Knowledge of paediatric vHL development is limited, and current surveillance guidelines are based...... surveillance before 18 years: 37 Danish patients from the national vHL research database and 62 international patients reported in 15 articles. Overall, 70% (69 of 99) developed manifestations before 18 years (median age at first manifestation: 12 years (range: 6–17 years)). Thirty per cent (30 of 99) had...

These clinical guidelines outline the criteria and recommendations for diagnostic and genetic work-up of families suspected of von Hippel-Lindau disease (vHL), as well as recommendations for prophylactic surveillance for vHL patients. The guideline has been composed by the Danish Coordination Group...... for vHL which is comprised of Danish doctors and specialists interested in vHL. The recommendations are based on longstanding clinical experience, Danish original research, and extensive review of the international literature. vHL is a hereditary multi-tumour disease caused by germline mutations...... of the disease, and/or in individuals with a vHL-associated manifestation; i.e. a hemangioblastoma in the retina or the central nervous system, familial or bilateral pheochromocytomas, familial, multiple, or early onset renal cell carcinomas, and in individuals with an endolymphatic sac tumour in the inner ear...

The levels of homocysteine (HC) and von Willebrand factor (VWF) as cardiovascular risk factors were studied in patients with Stage II chronic alcoholism. Forty-one men with Stage II chronic alcoholism without clinical signs of somatic and infectious diseases were examined. Their median age was 37 (range 32-40) years; the alcoholization period was 12 (range 8-17) years. Plasma HC and VWF (amount and activity) levels were determined. In 63.4% of chronic alcoholic patients, HC levels was twice as high as in the controls; in 80.6%, both the content and activity of VWF were increased. There was no correlation between the levels of HC and VWF. Vascular endothelial damage concurrent with hyperhomocysteinemia increases a cardiovascular risk in patients with Stage II chronic alcoholism.

In "De animalibus", the 7th book in the "Liber simplicis medicinae", Hildegard von Bingen describes the characteristics of four-footed land animals. Some of these have a special relationship with humans in that they embody moral qualities. An explanation for this is already given in the preface, which states that human intelligence recognizes these qualities, declaring that "You are this or that sort of creature". Since the relationship that animals have with nature shares a degree of similarity with that of man's, they can be regarded as symbolic representatives for particular human traits and characteristics. The article at hand presents Hildegard von Bingen's descriptions of the monkey, the lion, the bear, the rabbit, the dog, the cat, the wolf, the lynx, and the donkey. While the monkey just mimics man's behaviour and is imperfect in both settings, the lion embodies will power. The bear on the other hand stands for unbridled sexual desire, while in the rabbit the gentleness of a sheep is united with the bounce of a deer. The lynx is regarded as hedonistic, the donkey as stupid, and the wolf as surrounded by dangerous sylphs. In Hildegard's depictions, exotic and native animal species display rather extraordinary behavioural traits, and the medieval Christian world view of the author conveys unexpected relationships between humans and animals. In addition to empirical observation and experience, Hildegard also relies on folkloristic beliefs and magical practices related to explanatory models of her time. She allows largely unknown sources into her animal lore but never strays from her ultimate goal of having it serve to instruct people. In doing so, Hildegard removed herself far from the common tradition of medieval animal portraits.

Von Willebrand disease (VWD) is the most common inherited bleeding disorder characterized by spontaneous or tissue injury-related, mostly mucocutaneous, bleeding events. VWD affects both males and females and is caused by quantitative or qualitative deficiency of Von Willebrand factor. The diagno......Von Willebrand disease (VWD) is the most common inherited bleeding disorder characterized by spontaneous or tissue injury-related, mostly mucocutaneous, bleeding events. VWD affects both males and females and is caused by quantitative or qualitative deficiency of Von Willebrand factor...... subtyping may also be problematic. This article summarizes the guidelines of the Nordic Haemophilia Council (NHC), which are intended to serve as a practical tool and provide the standards for diagnosing and treating VWD patients. The complete Nordic Guidelines on VWD are available at the NHC Web site (http://nordhemophilia.org)....

Sedov variational principle, which is the generalization of the least actional principle for the dissipative processes is used to generalize the canonical quantization and von Neumann equation for dissipative systems (particles and strings). (author). 66 refs, 1 fig

... the exhibition ``Franz von Stuck,'' imported from abroad for temporary exhibition within the United... the Frye Art Museum, Seattle, Washington, from on or about November 2, 2013, until on or about...

Field Marshal Erich von Manstein was one of Hitler's most competent generals. He was a master of maneuver warfare who orchestrated the counterattacks of Germany's Army Group South during the Winter Campaign of 1942-43...

Full Text Available Article in German, Abstracts in English and Spanish.Humboldt, (German historicism, humboldteanization.The ‘historian of America", mass slavery and the globalisations of the world.This article treats Alexander von Humboldt as an Atlantic intellectual, not only as an european intellectual. The article tries to analize also the "Ensayo político sobre la Isla de Cuba" as a key text of the second globalization ("industrial revolution". Against the background of our knowledge about the reality at the beginnings of the 19th century the article analizes the humboldtian presentation of this reality during his stay in Cuba (1801/1804, confronting it with his "Essay" about Cuba (1826-1831, as well tries to demonstrate the position of Humboldt in the historical thinking. The third part explains the relations of Humboldt to the network of Cuban intellectuals and with some important personalities of the Cuban elite (Arango, Calvo in the development of his work.

Full Text Available Article in German, Abstracts in English, Spanish and German.Alexander von Humboldt sent samples of minerals from America not only for scientific or economic purposes. We also find carved pieces made out of green stone material known as Jade, that has been culturally very important in Mesoamerica. In Europe these green stone objects have been treated differently. The Jade-Celt and the Sun-Disc - known as “Humboldt-Axt” and “Humboldt-Scheibe” - both lost during the second world war, had gained great interest, whereas a small head-pendant - made out of Jade has been totally forgotten. The samples reflect the understanding of their worth in distinct cultural contexts.

Nine patients with clinically moderate or severe Type I von Willebrand's disease were treated for 2 weeks with ethamsylate (2 g/day in four equal doses) and with a matched placebo in a randomised double-blind trial. Template bleeding time, von Willebrand factor activity (ristocetin co-factor) and antigen, euglobulin lysis time and type I tissue plasminogen activator inhibitor were determined before and at the end of each treatment period. None of these parameters showed any significant change attributable to ethamsylate. Thus, despite the fact that five patients thought subjectively that their bleeding symptoms improved during ethamsylate treatment compared to only one while on placebo, we obtained no evidence that the drug was of benefit to patients with von Willebrand's disease.

Full Text Available Controversial and unconventional designer of formal experimentations, simultaneously celebrated and despised around the world, performative to a point that realism is achieved through the manipulation of realistic conventions hidden in everyday forms of human interactions, von Trier is indeed one of the most important contemporary filmmakers within European cinema, as well as the protagonist of Koutsourakis’s Politics as Form in Lars von Trier: A Post-Brechtian Reading.

This thesis begins a dialogue between Hans Urs von Balthasar’s theological aesthetics and Chinese academic aesthetics. We identify a tension between aesthetics and religion in Chinese academic aesthetics, and argue that a dialogue with von Balthasar’s work has the potential to contribute to the development of Chinese academic aesthetics with regard to overcoming that tension. In order to set a ground for the dialogue, von Balthasar’s theological aesthetics is examined in Par...

Carl Adolph von Basedow was the son of an aristocratic family and was born 1799 in Dessau. He was the grandson of the famous pedagogue Johann Bernhard Basedow. He studied medicine at the university of Halle and spent two years in the surgical service of Paris hospitals--the Charité and the Hôtel Dieu. In 1822, he settled in Merseburg as a physician. He was soon acclaimed as a genial and skilled helper in all branches of medical practice. He performed his own post-mortem examinations and published findings on a number of different diseases. His famous contribution in the thyroid field appeared in 1840 entitled "Exophthalmos due to hypertrophy of the cellular tissue in the orbit". Exophthalmos, goiter and palpitation of the heart have become known as the Merseburg Triad. In 1848, he published the autopsy findings on a patient who died from "exophthalmic cachexia". In Germany and some other countries, the disease was named as Morbus Basedow since 1858. In 1854 he pricked in his finger in the postmortem room when examining a patient who had died of typhus and he succumbed to septicemia at the early age of fifty-five. The date of his death was April 11, 1854. On April 14, he was laid in the Sixtus Cemetery in Merseburg. Basedow postulated that a wrong mixing of the blood manifested in cell tissue congestion and glandular vegetation cause the manifestations of disease. If we abstract our modern knowledge and accept circulating antibodies and disturbance of the immune balance as a dyscrasia as well as the proliferation of lymphocytic clones and local cellulary infiltration in terms of immune thyroiditis and autoimmune orbitopathy as cell tissue congestion and glandular vegetations, then doubt arise whether we have indeed made much progress in the last 150 years. At least, respect for the genius of the general physician Carl Adolph von Basedow is becoming greater. We may all hope that in the contributions and the discussions, we shall learn where we stand at the end of

In the Clean Air Act of 1970 the US American Government set itself the goal of reducing pollutant emissions from automobiles to 10% of the original level. While it was very ambitious at the time, this goal has meanwhile been reached, at least in terms of the amount of pollution per vehicle. The period between 1981 and 1986 alone saw emission reductions in the USA of 65% for CO, 60% for HC, and 40% for NO{sub x}. The introduction of stringent limit values in Europe is in particular predicted to bring about drastic reductions in HC emissions. By the year 2010, after the phase-out of old vehicles without a cat, HC emissions are expected to have decreased to 20% of the 1990 level. A similar development has been predicted for CO emissions. As for NO{sub x} emissions there will at least be drastic reductions in spark ignition vehicles. However, this success will be neutralised for some part by the growing number of diesel vehicles and by increasing mileage. These figures show impressively that the use of catalytic converters in road vehicles has made a substantial contribution to relieving the environment and improving the quality of life and will continue to do so in future. [Deutsch] Die amerikanische Regierung trat 1970 im Clean Air Act mit der Vorgabe an, die Schadstoffe aus Kraftfahrzeugen auf 10% des urspruenglichen Wertes mindern zu wollen. Dieses Ziel war zum damaligen Zeitpunkt sehr hochgesteckt, ist aber inzwischen erreicht worden, was die Schadstoffmenge pro Fahrzeug angeht. Allein zwischen den Jahren 1981-86 wurde eine Schadstoffreduzierung um 65% fuer CO, 60% fuer HC und 40% fuer NO{sub x} in den USA festgestellt. Durch Einfuehrung der strengen Grenzwerte in Europa ist vor allem eine drastische Verminderung der HC-Emissionen prognostiziert. Diese sollen im Jahre 2010 nach Auslaufen der Altfahrzeuge ohne Katalysator noch 20% des Niveaus von 1990 betragen. Fuer CO werden aehnliche Verhaeltnisse erwartet. Bei den NO{sub x}-Emissionen wird im PKW-Bereich fuer

The liver is the second only to lymph nodes as the most common site of metastatic disease irrespective of the primary tumor. Up to 50% of all patients with malignant diseases will develop liver metastases with a significant morbidity and mortality. Although the surgical resection leads to an improvement of the survival time, only approximately 20% of the patients are eligible for surgical intervention. Radiofrequency (RF) ablation represents one of the most important alternatives as well as complementary methods for the therapy of liver metastases. RF ablation can lead in a selected patient group to a palliation or to an increased life expectancy. RF ablation appears either safer (vs. cryotherapy) or easier (vs. laser) or more effective (percutaneous ethanol instillation [PEI]), transarterial chemoembolisation [TACE] in comparison with other minimal invasive procedures. RF ablation can be performed percutaneously, laparoscopically or intraoperatively and may be combined with chemotherapy as well as with surgical resection. Permanent technical improvements of RF systems, a better understanding of the underlying electrophysiological principles and an interdisciplinary approach will lead to a prognosis improvement in patients with liver metastases. (orig.) [German] Die Leber ist unabhaengig vom Primaertumor nach den Lymphknoten die zweithaeufigste Lokalisation von Metastasen. Bis zu 50% aller Patienten mit malignen Erkrankungen werden im Verlauf ihrer Erkrankung Lebermetastasen entwickeln, die mit einer signifikanten Morbiditaet und Mortalitaet verbunden sind. Obwohl die chirurgische Resektion zu einer verlaengerten Ueberlebenszeit fuehrt, sind nur ca. 20% der Patienten fuer einen chirurgischen Eingriff geeignet. Die Radiofrequenz-(RF-)Ablation stellt derzeit eine der effektivsten Alternativen und komplementaeren Methoden bei der Therapie von Lebermetastasen dar. In einem selektierten Patientengut fuehrt die RF-Ablation ueber den palliativen Einsatz hinaus zu einer

In the Clean Air Act of 1970 the US American Government set itself the goal of reducing pollutant emissions from automobiles to 10% of the original level. While it was very ambitious at the time, this goal has meanwhile been reached, at least in terms of the amount of pollution per vehicle. The period between 1981 and 1986 alone saw emission reductions in the USA of 65% for CO, 60% for HC, and 40% for NO{sub x}. The introduction of stringent limit values in Europe is in particular predicted to bring about drastic reductions in HC emissions. By the year 2010, after the phase-out of old vehicles without a cat, HC emissions are expected to have decreased to 20% of the 1990 level. A similar development has been predicted for CO emissions. As for NO{sub x} emissions there will at least be drastic reductions in spark ignition vehicles. However, this success will be neutralised for some part by the growing number of diesel vehicles and by increasing mileage. These figures show impressively that the use of catalytic converters in road vehicles has made a substantial contribution to relieving the environment and improving the quality of life and will continue to do so in future. [Deutsch] Die amerikanische Regierung trat 1970 im Clean Air Act mit der Vorgabe an, die Schadstoffe aus Kraftfahrzeugen auf 10% des urspruenglichen Wertes mindern zu wollen. Dieses Ziel war zum damaligen Zeitpunkt sehr hochgesteckt, ist aber inzwischen erreicht worden, was die Schadstoffmenge pro Fahrzeug angeht. Allein zwischen den Jahren 1981-86 wurde eine Schadstoffreduzierung um 65% fuer CO, 60% fuer HC und 40% fuer NO{sub x} in den USA festgestellt. Durch Einfuehrung der strengen Grenzwerte in Europa ist vor allem eine drastische Verminderung der HC-Emissionen prognostiziert. Diese sollen im Jahre 2010 nach Auslaufen der Altfahrzeuge ohne Katalysator noch 20% des Niveaus von 1990 betragen. Fuer CO werden aehnliche Verhaeltnisse erwartet. Bei den NO{sub x}-Emissionen wird im PKW-Bereich fuer

Von Hippel-Lindau (VHL) disease is an autosomal dominant disorder that predisposes the affected individual to develop characteristic tumors. These include CNS hemangioblastoma, retinal angiomas, endolymphatic sac tumors, pancreatic cysts and tumors, epididymal cystadenomas, pheochromocytomas, renal cysts, and clear-cell renal carcinoma. The VHL gene was localized to 3p25 and then isolated by Latif et al. (1). The gene contains three exons with an open reading frame of 852 nucleotides, which encode a predicted protein of 284 amino acids. The VHL protein is believed to have several functions. It is involved in transcription regulation through its inhibition of elongation by binding to the B and C subunits of elongin. Mutations of VHL allow the B and C subunits to bind with the A subunit. This complex then overcomes "pausing" of RNA polymerase during mRNA transcription (2,3). Several studies suggest that the VHL protein is also involved in regulation of hypoxia-inducible transcripts, particularly vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), by altering mRNA stability (4,5). Therefore, VHL gene mutations permit the overexpression of VEGF under normoxic conditions, which leads to the angiogenesis believed to be required for tumor growth. The VHL-elongin BC complex (VBC) also binds two other proteins-CUL2 and Rbx1-in a complex that has structural similarity to other E3 ubiquitin ligase complexes (6). Such complexes mediate the degradation of cell-cycle regulatory proteins.

The condition for distinguishability of a countably infinite number of pure states by a single measurement is given. Distinguishability is to be understood as the possibility of an unambiguous measurement. For a finite number of states, it is known that the necessary and sufficient condition of distinguishability is that the states are linearly independent. For an infinite number of states, several natural classes of distinguishability can be defined. We give a necessary and sufficient condition for a system of pure states to be distinguishable. It turns out that each level of distinguishability naturally corresponds to one of the generalizations of linear independence to families of infinite vectors. As an important example, we apply the general theory to von Neumann’s lattice, a subsystem of coherent states which corresponds to a lattice in the classical phase space. We prove that the condition for distinguishability is that the area of the fundamental region of the lattice is greater than the Planck constant, and also find subtle behavior on the threshold. These facts reveal the measurement theoretical meaning of the Planck constant and give a justification for the interpretation that it is the smallest unit of area in the phase space. The cases of uncountably many states and of mixed states are also discussed. (paper)

Weldments have been a major topic of engineering fracture mechanics research for many years as it shows up in the immense number of scientific papers published recently. Part of this generated knowledge has already been implemented in some industrial codes and standards. The focussing on weldments has its own reason in the utmost importance of this class of components in many industrial fields, but also in its susceptibility to the formation of defects during manufacturing and cracks in service, which promotes the danger of component failure. The present report is addressed to designers and material testers to provide updated information on the present state-of-the-art of fracture mechanics application to weldments. (orig.) [German] Schweissverbindungen bilden seit vielen Jahren einen Schwerpunkt der anwendungsnahen bruchmechanischen Forschung, was seinen Niederschlag in einer nahezu unuebersehbaren Fuelle an wissenschaftlichen Publikationen findet. Ein Teil der Ergebnisse hat bereits Eingang in industrienahe bruchmechanische Bewertungsvorschriften gefunden. Die Konzentration auf Schweissverbindungen hat ihre Ursache in der immensen Bedeutung dieser Bauteilklasse fuer viele Gebiete der Volkswirtschaft, aber auch in ihrer besonderen Anfaelligkeit zur Rissbildung in der Fertigung und im Betrieb und damit hinsichtlich der Gefahr von Bauteilversagen. Der vorliegende Beitrag wendet sich an Konstrukteure und Werkstoffpruefer, die einen Einblick in den gegenwaertigen Stand der Ingenieurbruchmechanik an Schweissverbindungen gewinnen wollen. (orig.)

Full Text Available Theology, through its history, has always been related to Philology, because its source is the Holy Scriptures. This reason has stimulated my further consideration of the exegeta Gerhard von Rad “Wisdom in Israel” a “symbol” of modern interest for the Wisdom books. Inserted in the philologic German trend of the history of tradition and history of editing and forms, it is opposed to positivists interpretation and installs a new comprehension of the OT traditions. Its hermeneutica, without deteriorating the historical criticism, gives first hand priority to the message that the scriptural brands patentize as a twist of an organization in constant growth. However, the love of live words, which is considered by the philologist, make him capable to have a wide effect of the methodological tools, and in this way; unravel the secrets of the world of wisdom. Now in the threshold of Christianism, Wisdom books prepare the adequate opening to receive the “new Wine” in “new containers”. Also, today, philology and wisdom summon us to go along with this moment of the History of Salvation with the necessary instruments and ancient breeding by old and modern wisemen.

Objective: To assess imaging appearances of von Hippel-Lindau disease (VHLD). Methods: The clinical and imaging data of ten patients who met VHLD gene diagnostic criteria were retrospectively analyzed. Seven underwent CT abdominal scan, three underwent MRI abdominal scan. All patients underwent MRI cranial scan. Eight patients were treated by surgery, and three of them underwent endoscopic ultrasound guided aspiration biopsy of pancreatic tumors. Results: All patients had multiple cysts of the pancreas, eight patients suffered multiple cysts of kidneys. Three patients suffered multiple islet cell tumors of pancreas: one was accompanied with pancreatic serous cystadenoma, another was accompanied with left adrenal pheochromocytoma. Three patients had bilateral renal cell carcinoma (one of them had the right kidney cut off), one patient had right renal cell carcinoma. Two patients suffered cerebellar hemangioblastomas, and one of them was accompanied with mutiple spinal hemangioblastomas and the left retinal hemangioblastoma. Two patients with multiple cysts of pancreas and kidneys had not been found any tumor. Conclusion: Multiple cysts of pancreas and kidney are highly suggestive of VHLD. At the same time, endocrine tumors of pancreas, serous cystadenoma of pancreas, adrenal pheochromocytoma, renal carcinomas, multiple hemangioblastomas of central nervous system and retinal hemangioblastoma can also occur in VHLD. (authors)

Full Text Available Von Hippel-Lindau syndrome (VHL is a familial neoplastic condition seen in approximately 1 in 36,000 live births. It is caused by germline mutations of the tumor suppressor gene VHL, located on the short arm of chromosome 3. While the majority of the affected individuals have a positive family history, up to 20% of cases arise from de novo mutations. VHL syndrome is characterized by the presence of benign and malignant tumors affecting the central nervous system, kidneys, adrenals, pancreas, and reproductive organs. Common manifestations include hemangioblastomas of the brain, spinal cord, and retina; pheochromocytoma and paraganglioma; renal cell carcinoma; pancreatic cysts and neuroendocrine tumors; and endolymphatic sac tumors. Diagnosis of VHL is prompted by clinical suspicion and confirmed by molecular testing. Management of VHL patients is complex and multidisciplinary. Routine genetic testing and surveillance using various diagnostic techniques are used to help monitor disease progression and implement treatment options. Despite recent advances in clinical diagnosis and management, life expectancy for VHL patients remains low at 40–52 years. This article provides an overview of the major clinical, histological, and radiological findings, as well as treatment modalities.

Full Text Available Article in german, abstracts in english and frenchAlexander von Humboldt has been labelled a “scientific cosmopolitan”. Through his vast correspondence and a network of personal contacts, he upheld a form of scientific exchange that was characteristic of the eighteenth-century “republic of letters”.This article examines how Humboldt adapted this cosmopolitan tradition of communication to a nineteenth century scientific culture that was largely institutionalized and was becoming increasingly nationalized. Humboldt quite successfully fostered scientific exchange between Berlin and Paris after 1830 and, on various occasions between the 1830s and 1850s, readily advocated international large-scale projects. These examples demonstrate that Humboldt observed the development of nationally defined scientific cultures and the opening of the sciences towards the public realm. Moreover, they indicate how he was able to make use of these developments as he promoted the sciences in Prussia. In scientific controversies within the Parisian scientific community, Humboldt was involuntarily assigned the role of a “neutral” foreign arbitrator. Thus, the development of nineteenth century sciences also jeopardized Humboldt’s unique position as an independent “homme des lettres”.

Von Willebrand factor (vWF) is a blood glycoprotein that binds with platelets and collagen on injured vessel surfaces to form clots. VWF bioactivity is shear flow induced: at low shear, binding between VWF and other biological entities is suppressed; for high shear rate conditions - as are found near arterial injury sites - VWF elongates, activating its binding with platelets and collagen. Based on parameters derived from single molecule force spectroscopy experiments, we developed a coarse-grain molecular model to simulate bond formation probability as a function of shear rate. By introducing a binding criterion that depends on the conformation of a sub-monomer molecular feature of our model, the model predicts shear-induced binding, even for conditions where binding is highly energetically favorable. We further investigate the influence of various model parameters on the ability to predict shear-induced binding (vWF length, collagen site density and distribution, binding energy landscape, and slip/catch bond length) and demonstrate parameter ranges where the model provides good agreement with existing experimental data. Our results may be important for understanding vWF activity and also for achieving targeted drug therapy via biomimetic synthetic molecules. National Science Foundation (NSF),Division of Mathematical Sciences (DMS).

Previous research has demonstrated a relationship between memory recall and P300 amplitude in list learning tasks, but the variables mediating this P300-recall relationship are not well understood. In the present study, subjects were required to recall items from lists consisting of 12 words, which were presented in front of pictures taken from the IAPS collection. One word per list is made distinct either by font color or by a highly arousing background IAPS picture. This isolation procedure was first used by von Restorff. Brain potentials were recorded during list presentation. Recall performance was enhanced for color but not for emotional isolates. Event-related brain potentials (ERP) showed a more positive P300-component for recalled non-isolated words and color-isolated words, compared to the respective non-remembered words, but not for words isolated by arousing background. Our findings indicate that it is crucial to take emotional mediator variables into account, when using the P300 to predict later recall. Highly arousing environments might force the cognitive system to interrupt rehearsal processes in working memory, which might benefit transfer into other, more stable memory systems. The impact of attention-capturing properties of arousing background stimuli is also discussed.

Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck's The Lives of Others, set in the German Democratic Republic in 1984, five years before the fall of the Berlin Wall, has been called the first accurate depiction of the psychological terror wielded by the Stasi, the East German secret police, who safeguarded the dictatorship of the proletariat. The film is about the psychological and political transformation of a Stasi officer, Wiesler, who undertakes the surveillance of a prominent playwright and his actress lover. The mechanisms through which Wiesler comes to empathize and identify with the subjects of his investigation, as he observes and listens in on the rich blend of passion, poetry, and politics that characterizes their lives, are explored in depth. Wiesler's transformation is based in part on the capacity to form implicit models of the behavior and experiences of others, based on the mirror neuron system, that Gallese and his colleagues call "embodied simulation." Underpinning the processes of empathy and identification so central to this film, embodied simulation is an unconscious and prereflexive mechanism through which the actions, emotions, and sensations we observe activate internal representations of the bodily and mental states of the other. Embodied simulation also expands our understanding of the power of the primal scene, which has long been identified as a major organizer of unconscious fantasies and conflicts throughout life, and which forms the central metaphor of the film. Embodied simulation scaffolds our aesthetic response to art, music, and literature, underlies the dynamics of spectatorship, and potentially catalyzes resistance to totalitarian mass movements.

Full Text Available Abstract Pancreatic cysts are a heterogeneous group of lesions, which can be benign or malignant. Due to improved imaging techniques, physicians are more often confronted with pancreatic cysts. Little is known about the origin of pancreatic cysts in general. Von Hippel-Lindau (VHL disease is an atypical ciliopathy and inherited tumor syndrome, caused by a mutation in the VHL tumor suppressor gene encoding the VHL protein (pVHL. VHL patients are prone to develop cysts and neuroendocrine tumors in the pancreas in addition to several other benign and malignant neoplasms. Remarkably, pancreatic cysts occur in approximately 70% of VHL patients, making it the only hereditary tumor syndrome with such a discernible expression of pancreatic cysts. Cellular loss of pVHL due to biallelic mutation can model pancreatic cystogenesis in other organisms, suggesting a causal relationship. Here, we give a comprehensive overview of various pVHL functions, focusing on those that can potentially explain pancreatic cyst development in VHL disease. Based on preclinical studies, cilia loss in ductal cells is probably an important early event in pancreatic cyst development.

Full Text Available Adelbert von Chamisso foi um escritor e poeta de língua alemã, nascido em família aristocrática francesa emigrada para a Alemanha em 1792. Este artigo, examinando o conto "L'étrange histoire de Peter Schlemihl", primeiro trabalho publicado por Chamisso, aponta os aspectos autobiográficos dessa obra que antecipa a vida de seu autor até na exatidão das minúcias. O artigo mostra como a sublimação artística permitiu que o escritor encontrasse para si mesmo um caminho pelo trabalho científico e pela criação literária, e indica que essa espécie de "aceitação intelectual" do recalcado poderia ser vista como equivalente a um resultado de tratamento psicanalítico.Chamisso was a German writer and poet born in an aristocratic French family emigrated to Germany in 1792. This paper, inquiring into Chamisso's tale "L'étrange histoire de Peter Schlemihl", his first issued writing, points to its autobiographical features that anticipate the life of its author even in its precise details. This paper shows how artistic sublimation allowed the writer to succeed in finding for himself a path towards scientific work and literary creation, and emphasizes that this kind of "intellectual acceptation" of the repressed could be seen as equivalent to the result of a psychoanalysis treatment.

Full Text Available Article in German, Abstracts in English and GermanIn 1869 the “Naturwissenschaftlicher Verein” was founded in Magdeburg (Saxony Anhalt. That was the time when the scientific world celebrated Alexander von Humboldt’s 100th birthday. In this context, Humboldt’s achievements were remembered during the founding ceremony of that society. The paper which was read in September 2003 on a meeting of this organisation, focuses on three famous naturalists who celebrated Humboldt because they owed him much help in their own professional careers. The botanist Matthias Jacob Schleiden gave a memorial speech in 1869 in Dresden. The physiologist and pioneer of electro-biology Emil du Bois-Reymond honoured his mentor A. v. Humboldt on the occasion of the dedication of the statues of Wilhelm and Alexander in 1883 in Berlin. Charles Darwin expressed his gratitude to Humboldt by sending him in 1839 the report of his travels and received an interesting reply. These three scholars represented a new epoch in the development of the natural sciences. The paper includes a recently re-discovered letter from Humboldt to Schleiden, dated April 13, 1842.

Full Text Available Deepak Sharma,1 Basudev Gupta,2 Sweta Shastri,3 Pradeep Sharma4 1Department of Pediatrics, Pt. Bhagwat Dayal Sharma Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences, Rohtak, 2Department of Pediatrics, Civil Hospital, Palwal, Haryana, 3Department of Pathology, N.K.P. Salve Medical College, Nagpur, Maharashtra, 4Department of Medicine, Mahatma Gandhi Medical College and Research Institute, Jaipur, Rajasthan, India Introduction: von Voss-Cherstvoy syndrome is a part of a group of syndromes with radial and hematologic abnormalities, and until now approximately ten cases have been reported in the literature. This syndrome is characterized by a triad of radial ray defects, occipital encephalocele, and urogenital abnormalities.Case presentation: We report a neonate from Indian ethnicity who was diagnosed with von Voss-Cherstvoy syndrome. The neonate had radial ray defect, occipital encephalocele, tetralogy of Fallot, and bilateral agenesis of kidney, ureter, and bladder. The neonate was suspected to have von Voss-Cherstvoy syndrome on the basis of clinical features, which was further confirmed by fibroblast analysis showing somatic mosaicism for del(13q.Conclusion: von Voss-Cherstvoy syndrome is a very rare syndrome that can be suspected on the basis of typical clinical features and confirmed by fibroblast analysis showing somatic mosaicism for del(13q. This adds a second case of this chromosome anomaly described in this syndrome. Keywords: von Voss-Cherstvoy syndrome, radial ray defects, occipital encephalocele, urogenital abnormalities, somatic mosaicism for del(13q

In this work we consider new one-dimensional populational discrete dynamical systems in which the growth of the population is described by a family of von Bertalanffy's functions, as a dynamical approach to von Bertalanffy's growth equation. The purpose of introducing Allee effect in those models is satisfied under a correction factor of polynomial type. We study classes of von Bertalanffy's functions with different types of Allee effect: strong and weak Allee's functions. Dependent on the variation of four parameters, von Bertalanffy's functions also includes another class of important functions: functions with no Allee effect. The complex bifurcation structures of these von Bertalanffy's functions is investigated in detail. We verified that this family of functions has particular bifurcation structures: the big bang bifurcation of the so-called “box-within-a-box” type. The big bang bifurcation is associated to the asymptotic weight or carrying capacity. This work is a contribution to the study of the big bang bifurcation analysis for continuous maps and their relationship with explosion birth and extinction phenomena.

Von Willebrand factor (VWF) contains a large number of cysteine residues, which all form disulfide bonds. Mutations of cysteines located in the cystine-knot (CK) domain of VWF have been identified in both qualitative type 2A (IID) and quantitative type 3 von Willebrand disease (VWD). Our objective

The emission rates of isoprene, mono- and sesquiterpenes from sunflower (Helianthus annuus L. cv. giganteus) were determined in an environmental chamber, a continuously stirred tank reactor. {alpha}-pinene, {beta}-caryophyllene and two oxygenated compounds were emitted. The emission rates of all terpenes increased exponentially with temperature. Substance specific differences of the rate of increase of the emission rates were observed. For all substances the dependence of their emission rates on temperature increased with increasing light intensity. Increasing lightflux resulted in an increase of the emission rates for all substances. The raise of emission rates with lightflux was dependent on temperature and increased with increasing temperature. During periods without plant stress the emission rates exhibited a good correlation with the rate of transpiration as well as with the rate of net photosynthesis. Sunflowers emitted higher amounts of terpenes when they were stressed by mechanical, wounding and ozone treatment as well as nutrient- or water deficiency. The emission rates increased by a factor of 5-300. Exposure with ozone had an effect on hydrocarbon emission rates with a delay-time. 3-4 h after exposure with 25-120 ppb ozone the emission rates increased by factor of 5-100. This increase was only observed on the first day of exposure. Nutrient deficiency resulted in an increase of emission rates by a factor of 10-300. In situations of mechanical, wounding and ozone stress, substance specific changes in the emission spectrum were observed. A model was developed to explain the observed phenomena. The main pathway of ozone loss in the chamber is caused by the uptake through the stomata of the plants. However, up to 50% of the ozone loss must be explained by other processes indirectly caused by the plants. (orig./MG) [Deutsch] In Laborversuchen wurden Emissionsraten biogener Kohlenwasserstoffe von Sonnenblumen gemessen. Die groessten Emissionsraten wiesen die

Full Text Available Herpes simplex encephalitis (HSE is a rare complication of Herpes simplex virus type-1 infection. It results in severe parenchymal damage in the brain. Although viral latency in neurons is very common in the population, it remains unclear why certain individuals develop HSE. Here we explore potential host genetic variants predisposing to HSE. In order to investigate this we used a rat HSE model comparing the HSE susceptible SHR (Spontaneously Hypertensive Rats with the asymptomatic infection of BN (Brown Norway. Notably, both strains have HSV-1 spread to the CNS at four days after infection. A genome wide linkage analysis of 29 infected HXB/BXH RILs (recombinant inbred lines-generated from the prior two strains, displayed variable susceptibility to HSE enabling the definition of a significant QTL (quantitative trait locus named Hse6 towards the end of chromosome 4 (160.89-174Mb containing the Vwf (von Willebrand factor gene. This was the only gene in the QTL with both cis-regulation in the brain and included several non-synonymous SNPs (single nucleotide polymorphism. Intriguingly, in human chromosome 12 several SNPs within the intronic region between exon 43 and 44 of the VWF gene were associated with human HSE pathogenesis. In particular, rs917859 is nominally associated with an odds ratio of 1.5 (95% CI 1.11-2.02; p-value = 0.008 after genotyping in 115 HSE cases and 428 controls. Although there are possibly several genetic and environmental factors involved in development of HSE, our study identifies variants of the VWF gene as candidates for susceptibility in experimental and human HSE.

This paper provides a new formula to take into account phase differences in the determination of an equivalent von Mises stress power spectral density (PSD) from multiple random inputs. The obtained von Mises PSD can subsequently be used for fatigue analysis. The formula was derived for use in the

Is von Glasersfeld's constructivism actually radical? In this article, I respond to this question by analyzing von Glasersfeld's main works. I argue that the essential theoretical move of radical constructivism--namely the assertion that reality is the construction of a human mind that only responds to the subjective perception of "what…